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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 

NORTHWEST. 



BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 



OF THE 



NORTHWEST 



BEING 



VOLUME FOUR 



OF 



AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY OF REPRESENTATIVE MEN 



. BY 



1/ 

ALONZO PHELPS, A.M. 




^t 




BOSTON 
TICKNOR AND COMPANY 

211 SCvcmont ^^tvect 
1890 



^ij> 



? 



«^ 



Col'VRIGHT, 1S90, BY 
TiCKNOR AND COMPANY 



PREFACE. 



" I "HE American Biographical History of the Pacii-ic States and the Northwest 
-*- comprises four quarto vokmies ilUistrated with steel-plate engravings, and 
handsomely bound in full morocco. 

The work is pureK' an American idea, and is in the direction of assimilating 
American literature with American civilization. Viewed merely in the light of its 
primary purpose, without reference to collateral aims, the present work is simply 
a valuable and comprehensive Biographical Dictionary and Portrait (iailery ot the 
eminent men whose eventful lives are interwoven with the annals ot the nation. 
But this view is quite inadequate because superficial. 

Biography is the basis of history. It exhibits the political, social, religious, and 
intellectual condition of the people at every period of national existence. Instead 
of giving an account, in laborious detail, of all the events that have occurred from 
time to time in the growth of the State, biography and history are combined, 
grouping together the most striking and picturesque features that have dis- 
tinguished the early and more heroic period of pioneer life ; thus illustrating each 
important stage in the .State's progress and development. 

A liberal patronage is anticipated for the American Biographical History 

of the Northwest in Eastern localities. Its perusal will awaken a feeling of mutual 

regard and sympath)- ; and these memoirs, revealing the toils and privations of 

pioneer life, in the development of a new civilization, will be read with fraternal 

interest throughout the Atlantic States antl in luirope. 

A. P. 
Boston, Mass. 



INDEX TO BIOGRAPHIES. 



Barber, Daniel R. 

Barrows, Wii.i.ia.m M. 

Bell, David Cooper 

Brackett, George Augustus 

Campbell, Lewis William 

Chadbourn, 'Charles Hexrv 

Chute, Richard 

Cornell, Francis Russell E, 

Dav, Leonard 

De Laittre, John . 

Elwell, Tallmage 

EusTis, William H. 

Gale, Samuel Chester 

Gordon, Hanford Lennox 

GoTziAN, Hon. Conrad . 

Griggs, Hon. Chauncev Wright 

Hart, F. B 

Heffelfinger, Chriskh'her B. 
Hodgson, Edward J. 
Ingersoll, Daniel Wesley 
Johnson, Asa E. . . . 
Jones, Edwin S. . . . 
Jones, Jesse G. . . . 

Kelly, Anthony 
Kimball, Hannibal Hamlin, M.D. 
King, William S. . 
Lane, James Sargent 
Lauderdale. Wii.m \\i Hknrv 
Lewis, M. W. . 



I20 
167 
178 

79 
155 
'73 
123 

68 

197 
204 
192 
122 
64 

139 

109 

126 

154 

130 

93 

78 

87 

84 

101 

100 

16s 
189 
114 
89 
191 



IXDEX TO BIOGRAPHIES. 



Loxo, Fran'kmn IJiiiwKi.i. 
LowRV, Thomas 
McNair, William \V. 
Mendenhai.i,, Richard Jr.\irs 
Merrill, D. I). 
Morrison', Doriits 
MuRPHin'. Dn. I. It. 

NeLSOX, I!k\JAMI\ I'UWKLIN 

Norton', Edward Shkldox 
Oswald, John Conrad . 
Page, E. H. . 
Pettit, CiRiis HrssK.v . 
PiLLSBfRY, Charles Alfred 
PiLi.sRURv, John SARf.i-.xi- 

PrAIT, lioRAtK W. 

Prix( E, JiniN SiorcHi i;\r,rR( 
Rand, Ai.dxzo C. 
Russell, Roswki.l P. 
Seelf.v, Isaac C. 
Stone, ALEXAxnr.K J., M.D. 
Thompson, Josiah 
TuTTLE, James IIarvkv . 
Upham, Henrv I'. . 
Walker, Thomas Barlow 
Washbirx, Cadwallader Coi 
Washbirn, William Drew 
Wilson, Thomas Weems 



177 
132 

135 
199 

48 

17- 

52 

97 

72 

'53 

55 

200 

n 

96 

50 
102 

i88 

lis 
176 
106 
183 
56 
33 
184 

39 
104 



BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE 

NORTHWEST. 




Wf^'- 



,.# 




-^'■fij, ^IJjSuTl Sms.yi"-^'^'^ 




Biographical History of the Northwest. 



JOHN SARGENT PILLSBURY. 

Two public events which will always remain foremost in the history of Minnesota 
will ever make the name of John Sargent Pillsbury prominent. Although he has 
achieved eminence as a man of affairs and of rare business and executive ability, yet 
to posterity his name will be held in the highest honor on account of two memorable trans- 
actions. We refer, firstly, to his labors in behalf of the University of Minnesota, whereby 
he saved it from practical extinction, and placed it among the foremost institutions of the 
Northwest ; and, secondly, to his actions in bringing about an adjustment of the repudiated 
State bonds. 

John Sargent Pillsbury was born at Sutton, Merrimac County, New Hampshire, on 
July 29, 1838. His parents were John Pillsbury and Susan (Wadleigh) Pillsbury. His 
ancestors on both sides were of the original Puritan stock, the American branch of the 
family starting with Joshua Pillsbury, who came to Newburyport, Massachusetts, from Eng- 
land, in 1640. Joshua received a grant of land at Newburyport, a portion of which remains 
in the Pillsbury family to this day. From Joshua descended a large family, many of whom 
have filled positions of honor and trust ; and the Pillsbury family has always been noted for 
the two characteristics of personal integrity and individual force of character. Micajah 
Pillsbury, the great-grandfather of John Sargent Pillsbury, settled in Sutton, Ne\v Hamp- 
shire, in 1790. The father of the subject of this sketch was John Pillsbury, a manufacturer 
and a man for many years prominent in local and State affairs in New Hampshire, where he 
held various offices. He died in 1857, leaving a high reputation. To John Pillsbury were 
born three sons : George A. Pillsbury, one of the most successful business men in Concord, 
New Hampshire, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, in both of which cities he has held the position 
of Mayor; Benjamin F. Pillsbury, of Granite Falls, Minnesota; and John Sargent Pillsbury, 
of whom we write. 

The opportunities for an education afforded John S. Pillsbury were limited, and during 
his boyhood were confined to the common schools of his native town. In those days, in the 
neighborhood of his birth, no such opportunities were afforded for an education as e.xist 
to-day. Work and application were required of all ; and in his early teens we find John S. 
commencing to learn the painter's trade. At about sixteen years of age his natural taste 
for trade and business led him to abandon painting, and enter upon a mercantile life. He 
commenced as a clerk for his older brother, George A. Pillsbury, in a general country store, 
at Warner, New Hampshire, continuing for four years in the employ of his brother, and for 
two or three years with William Carter, Jr., who succeeded his brother in business. Shortly 

II 



12 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

after reaching his majority, John S. entered into a trading partnership with Walter Harri- 
man, which continued for about two years. A peculiar coincidence of this partnership was 
that in after life Harriman became Governor of New Hampshire, and Pillsbury Governor of 
Minnesota. It was in those early experiences of life in a country store that Governor 
Pillsbury developed that business sagacity which afterwards made the name of Pillsbury 
coextensive with that of the United States, and everywhere suggestive of business enter- 
prise and success. The discipline and experience which he obtained in the New-Iuigland 
country-store of forty years ago, and the long time he was at service as an apprentice and 
clerk, contrast sharply with the idea which prevails among young men to-dav, wlio seem to 
think that a year's experience as an employe of others fits them for any position. But it was 
those long days and nights of hard work which developed the thorough and successful man of 
later years. After the partnership with Harriman terminated, John S. removed to Concord, 
New Hampshire, where for four years he was engaged as a merchant-tailor and cloth-dealer. 
During these years he had been watching the signs of the times, and became convinced that 
the largest opportunities for business success were in the West, and he then became the 
pioneer of the Pillsbury family in this region. In 1853 he started on a trip of observation, for 
the purpose of finding a desirable place in which to locate permanently. After considerable 
travel, through the Western and Northwestern States, in June, 1855, he visited Minnesota, 
and when he saw the Falls of St. Anthony he became convinced that sooner or later a large 
metropolis would be built there. He settled permanently at what was then St. Anthony, 
but what is now an essential part of the city of Minneapolis. He at once engaged in the 
hardware business. He succeeded until the panic of 1857, when a loss of about $30,000 bv 
fire in a single night met him. This loss, occurring in the midst of the financial distress of 
the time, to most men would have been ruinous. It only served to develop and strengthen 
his courage, and to nerve him for greater action. In this connection we might sjieak of one 
of his peculiar traits : his ability to snatch victory out of the very jaws of defeat. In emer- 
gencies which would have disheartened most men, he has always stood forth to the best ad- 
vantage. In the every -day events of life, when everything is running smoothh-, he might 
perhaps pass for an ordinary man ; but all through life, when trying ordeals have come, he has 
always been recognized as a leader among men. When these financial diflficultics arose he 
was not disheartened, but applied himself with redoubled vigor, and established himself in 
business on a larger scale ; and, at the end of five years, he was not only successful again, 
but by tremendous efforts and indefatigable energy he had met every one of his obliga- 
tions, and paid all his creditors in full. In after years he often said that one of the highest 
compliments which was ever paid him was by an Eastern merchant. Shortly after the fire 
he made a large purchase of goods with which to carry on his business ; in payment for this 
purchase he gave several thousand dollars of his own personal notes, indorsed by no one. 
As he was about to return to Minnesota, the Boston merchant handed back his notes, say- 
ing : " You can keep them as well as I, and as fast as you pay a note and the interest 
thereon, you can tear up the original note." His reputation for honesty was the only secu- 
rity the capitalist wanted ; and it is needless to add that the security was ample, and this too 
in a time when Western credit was not sought in the East. Not only did Mr. Pillsbury 
attend to his own business matters, but he became prominent in local affairs, and in 1858 was 



JOHN SARGENT PILLSBURY. 13 

elected a member of the city council of St. Anthony, a position which he held by successive 
re-elections for six years. When the War of the Rebellion broke out, he rendered efficient 
service in organizing the First, Second, and Third Regiments of Minnesota volunteers ; 
and in 1862 he, with others, raised and equipped a mounted company for service in the 
Indian outbreak in Minnesota. 

In 185 1 Congress granted forty-si.K thousand acres of land in the then Territory of 
Minnesota, for the establishment of a University. In 1856 this land was mortgaged in the 
sum of forty thousand dollars, and bonds issued thereon for the erection of University build- 
ings. After the main building was completed, in 1857, a mortgage of fifteen thousand dollars 
was placed upon it. When the financial crash of 1857 came, various obligations and debts 
remained outstanding. The trustees of the University were unable to do anything, and 
creditors East and West grew clamorous for their claims. Matters grew worse and worse 
with the University. No funds could be raised, the Legislature was not able to appropriate 
money, and, after two or three years of hopeless efforts to go on, the friends of the University 
finally despaired of being able to extricate its affairs, and it was generally believed that the in- 
stitution would have to go down, and the creditors allowed to take whatever assets there were. 
AH this while Mr. Pillsbury, who li^'ed not far from the University, was watching its situa- 
tion v/ith an eagle eye ; although possessed of but a common-school education himself, which 
had been enlarged by such knowledge as reading and observation could give him, he never- 
theless felt a great interest in high-grade schools and colleges, and wished that others might 
enjoy the facilities of which he was deprived in his youth. In his own mind he determined 
that the University should not go down, at least not until he had made every possible effort 
to avert it. He became possessed of an ambition to afford the youth of Minnesota a uni- 
versity of which they should not be ashamed. In 1862 Governor Ramsey, in his annual 
message, was forced to say in substance to the Legislature that he could see no other way 
)ut of the financial embarrassment of the University than to sell the lands which had been 
-granted it in payment of its existing debts. It is not necessary to say what would have 
Cjeen the result if this policy had prevailed. In justice to Governor Ramsey, it should be 
said that this view then prevailed with most of those who were familiar with the affairs of 
the University, and at the time the recommendation was made it really seemed to be the 
only way. In 1863 Mr. Pillsbury was appointed one of the regents of the University, and 
he then commenced to investigate the details of the institution, the situation and amount of 
its debts, and the location and characteristics of the land which had been granted it ; and, in 
short, he looked into every detail as thoroughly as a n,ian would do with his own affairs. All 
this time he was conducting his own private business as assiduously as ever, and during these 
years there was not a time in his waking hours when his mind was not engrossed with the 
financial problems of the University. He applied to it that judgment and financial ability 
which through life have characterized his private affairs. In 1863 he was elected a member 
of the State Senate, when he at once proposed a plan to the Legislature whereby the whole 
affairs of the University were placed in the hands of a new board of regents, composed of 
Hon. John Nicols of St. Paul, Hon. O. C. Merrinian of St. Anthony, and himself. He found 
a strong friend and ally in the person of Hon. John M. Berry, then a lawyer at Faribault, 
but afterwards and for many years one of the justices of the Supreme Court of Minnesota. 



14 NORTH IVEST BIOGRAPIIV. 

Mr. Berry entered enthusiastically into Governor Pillsbury's plan for the restoration of the 
University, imicI drew up and introduced a measure which resulted in the new board of 
regents. This act became a law March 4, 1S64, and is found in Chapter XVIII. of the 
General Laws of Minnesota, for the year 1864. \Vc refer to it thus definitely as it is a 
memorable act in the history of the University, and many of its provisions arc well worthy 
the attention and consideration of those who may afterwards study the history of the insti- 
tution. The act itself appointed the gentlemen of whom we have spoken, as the sole regents 
of the University; compelled them to give bonds to the State of Minnesota in the sum of 
twenty-five thou.sand dollars ; and placed all of the affairs of the University " in their discre- 
tion, to compromise, settle, and pay any and all claims and demands of whatsoever nature 
against the University of Minnesota or the regents thereof ; " and the regents " are hereby fully 
authorized and empowered to sell at public or private sale, and convey in settlement of any 
of said claims or demands, or for cash, or on credit, the whole or any part of the lands donated 
to the State of Minnesota by an act of Congress, entitled, An Act Donating to the States 
of Minnesota and Oregon certain lands reserved by Congress for the Territory of Minnesota 
and Oregon for University purposes." This act further provided that " said Board of Regents I 

shall have the right to convey by deed, under the seal of the University, sucli lands as they *, 

may sell;" and, in short, virtually placed all of the affairs of the University as completely 
in their hands as if the matters involved were their own private business. Some of the 
claims had been due for many years, and were in dispute as to the items. Mr. Pillsbury took 
upon himself the difficult and delicate task of adjusting these claims. Many were held by 
parties outside of the State, and in order to adjust them he was compelled to visit various 
parts of the country. This he did, often spending months, and, finally, after a great deal of 
effort, he succeeded in fully discharging all outstanding bonds, liens, judgments, and claims 
of every kind, to the entire satisfaction of those holding the claims, as well as the friends of 
the University. This he did without compensation to himself, and he thereby saved to the 
University upwards of thirty thousand acres of the land-grant which Congress had made, 
and the present site of the University of twcnt^'-five acres, with the campus and buildings, 
which are to-day valued at fully half a million of dollars. Thus was the University freed from 
the burdens which threatened to destroy it. From that time on, its success was assured. 
Mr. Pillsbury's efforts did not abate one whit after the financial affairs of the institution were 
thus settled. From 1863 till 1876 he was a member of the State Senate (excepting one and 
a half terms), and during this entire period he made the affairs of the University and its man- 
agement his study. After he went to the Capitol, no matter how hard the times or how 
strong the opposition, and at times when most men would have been afraid to ask for a 
penny's aid from the State, somehow or other before the close of the session he managed to 
secure a generous appropriation for the University. 

Mr. Pillsbury was always a Republican in politics. His splendid success in business 
and his wonderful management of the affairs of the University had made him one of the 
prominent men of the State, and his name was often mentioned in connection with the govern- 
orship. He was not a politician, however, and never adopted the methods of politicians, but 
was quiet and unobtrusive in all his habits. In 1875 he was elected governor of the State 
of Minnesota. 



JOHN SARGENT PILLSBURY. 13 

To the discharge of his new duties Governor Pillsbiiry brought remarkable qualifi- 
cations. Uniting breadth of view with prompt business sagacity, he was peculiarly fitted for 
the guidance of a young commonwealth struggling with unwonted difficulties. Following 
the financial panic of 1873 the people had emerged from an experience of feverish inflation 
to find themselves harassed with local debt, and confronted with reduced values. To this 
was added the grasshopper scourge, which in many localities inflicted poverty upon the 
people ; while everywhere, in town and country, all avocations, especially agriculture, the 
basis of the common prosperity, suffered a depression wholly without precedent. Never, 
even amid the Civil War and Indian outbreaks, was discouragement deeper or more wide- 
spread among the people. In this condition of affairs the inauguration of Governor 
Pillsbury was looked forward to with unusual interest. His reputation for liberality and 
high integrity, and his useful career as a State senator in the promotion of educational, 
charitable, and other enlightened legislation, justified popular expectation and inspired new 
hopes for the future. 

His inaugural address speedily won favor as a sensible and statesmanlike document. 
In comprehensive grasp it evinced at once a clear apprehension of principle and a close 
discernment of the people's practical needs. In an elevated tone of thoughtful dignity he 
urged the necessity both of rigid economy and liberal expenditures ; and, while recognizing 
all corporate franchises in their just application, the governor took high ground in favor of 
the great principle of governmental control of railroads, which was afterwards affirmed by the 
Supreme Court of the United States. But the most remarkable of the governor's utterances 
were those in which he pleaded for the honor of the State, and urged with cogent force and 
earnestness the just and speedy liquidation of her long-repudiated railroad bonds. Several 
propositions before made for the settlement of these old obligations had been so emphati- 
cally rejected by the people that candidates for popular favor shrank from a consideration 
of the matter as from political suicide. The Legislature, while according respectful attention 
to the governor's recommendation, was not then ready to give it effect, and the sequel 
proved that years of persistent effort were requisite to prepare the way for what is now 
generally acknowledged as an act of obvious public justice. 

Many important measures occupied the attention of the Legislature of 1876, some of 
them resulting in crude and ill-considered bills appropriating money to furnish seed-wheat 
to the grasshopper sufferers. These the governor felt it his duty to veto. With the 
manifest increase of the scourge and the reasonable certainty of continued ravages in those 
districts where the insects had already thickly deposited their eggs, to again seed the ground 
seemed like inviting renewed destruction from the insatiable pests. In the absence of 
attempted remedies, to make appropriations for such purpose was deemed a useless depletion 
of the public treasury, and it would, moreover, be accompanied by the hurtful weakening 
of private e.xertion and increased dependence upon public relief. The result proved the 
wisdom of the governor's course ; for the following season witnessed a more thorough 
destruction of the wheat crop in the ravaged districts than had ever been known. But with 
his disapproval of futile appropriations the governor applied himself anew in the effort to 
devise plans for defence against the growing encroachments of the enemy. He invited 
correspondence from investigators and sufferers, encouraged an interchange of views and 



i6 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

comparison of proposed remedies, and, after the accumulation and study of a mass of various 
information, issued a proclamation embodying the results and recommending such measures 
of protection as had been best attested by experience. This tended to arrest discourage- 
ment and to attract renewed attention to the subject. Meanwhile the widening area of 
devastation along the entire frontier, and the increasing gravity of the situation, seemed to 
demand a more general consideration of the matter, and accordingly Governor Pillsbury 
issued invitations to the governors of the States and Territories which had most suffered, to 
meet him in general conference to consider the evil and endeavor to concert measures of 
mutual protection. A cordial response having been received from the invited executives, it 
was agreed that the proposed conference should be held the following October at Omaha, 
Nebraska. 

Meanwhile prompt executive action was demanded for public protection in a different 
direction. Early in September a band of daring robbers and hardened outlaws (commonly 
called the Younger brothers), who had pursued a long and successful career of pillage, an(? 
terrorized successive communities in the Southwestern States and Territories, rode into the 
village ot Northfield, Minnesota, and attempted to rob the bank. This was prevented by 
the heroic .esistance of the cashier, at the cost of his life, when, by a prompt rally of the 
citizens, two of the bandits were killed and the others compelled to take flight. At once 
the whole country was aroused in the effort to capture the outlaws. Conducting their 
retreat through the night and under cover of the "Big Woods," they kept at large for some 
days, and the governor was repeatedly urged to order out the militia. But, rightly judging 
that it was an occasion for vigilance and celerity of movement, rather than military display, 
the governor sensibly declined the expensive resort to troops, and, by the prompt offer of 
rewards, — the responsibility of which he assumed, — and with the information obtained 
from detectives and the persistent use of the telegraph, most of the surviving robbers were 
discovered, driven into a swamp, and captured. Escaping from trial by the expedient of 
pleading guilty, the robbers were sentenced for life, and sent to the State prison at 
Stillwater, where they still remain. 

The Omaha conference, composed of the governors and scientific representatives of the 
States and Territories of the Northwest, was held according to appointment. Choosing 
Governor Pillsbury as its chairman, the assemblage continued its session several days, and 
joined in a memorial to the President and Congress of the United States, asking a thorough 
investigation of the matter, with a view to such governmental action as might promise 
protection. At the same time a large fund of information, elicited from various quarters, 
with suitable instructions, was published with the proceedings in pamphlet form, and widely 
disseminated as a basis of future action. 

But the immediate relief of the grasshopper sufferers was yet unprovided for. Succes- 
sive raids of the insects had driven many settlers from their homes and reduced the scanty 
means of those who remained. Upon his return to the Capitol the governor was met with 
renewed appeals for aid. They daily increased in number and urgency. A cry of distress 
arose in unmistakable tones from the afflicted counties of the southwest. A long Northern 
winter was just .setting in, and to avert severe suffering prompt action was imperiously 
demanded. But how was such action to be taken in the absence both of specific knowledge 



JOHN SARGENT PILLSBURY \j 

of the distress and of the means to relieve it ? The emergency required at once a clear 
head and a big heart. Fortunately Governor Pillsbury possessed both in rare degree. The 
agents he had sent out to investigate having failed to report the definite and extended 
information required, the governor resolved to go in person among the people and see for 
himself. So, providing himself with a storm-cap, a suit of rough clothing, and a sum of 
money for direct emergencies, the governor left his office and went forth on his mission 
of mercy. For greater convenience and to insure more searching work, he resolved to 
travel incognito. It was zero weather, in' the middle of December ; and the people, with 
dire experience of blizzards on the bleak prairies, warned him against venturing on any but 
the shortest journeys. It was sometimes only by offering considerable rewards that he 
could induce them to drive him from house to house, where they were widely separated. 
But, persevering through all difficulties, sharing the shelter of their desolate cabins, and 
partaking of their scanty food, the governor was not long in discovering a people on the 
verge of actual starvation. In some instances with thin and ragged clothing and without 
shoes, they were dependent upon twisted grass for fuel and coarse bran and shorts for food. 
In others only a few potatoes and garden-vegetables were left to appease the gnawings of 
hunger. Over broad acres all grain crops had been destroyed, year after year, and farm- 
stock and even the family cows had been sold to provide food and clothing. The reports 
of this extreme destitution sent back by Governor Pillsbury, and published in the news- 
papers, created a profound sensation and melted the stoutest hearts. All the idle and 
shiftless settlers who were inclined to alms-seeking had left the country, and those who 
remained were a noble and self-respecting class, ready to endure all things rather than 
resort to beggary. Sometimes stout men would disclaim their own poverty, and, averring 
their ability to "pull through," would bid the governor go on to their neighbors, who, they 
declared, were in greater need ; but upon a kindly inquiry for wife or children, or the sudden 
appearance of the cherished ones in their rags and misery, the brave fathers would break 
down with emotion, and accept for their families what they had declined for themselves. In 
one notable case, while the governor was questioning a proud sufferer who had more than 
once refused proffered aid, a little child, whose tender limbs were exposed through her 
tattered garments, suddenly entered the room. " You refuse help for yourself," said the 
governor, "but how about your children .' " 

The poor man struggled hard for self-control, and, catching the child in his arms, 
exclaimed in broken accents, " My children, my children ! O God ! help my poor 
children ! " 

The governor, too deeply affected to prolong the interview, pressed a bank-bill into the 
parent's hand and hurried away; and it is needless to add that further succor speedily 
reached that suffering household. 

Furnishing immediate relief from his private purse, in the most urgent cases, the 
governor made arrangements in different neighborhoods for a systematic and extended 
rescue of the people from their perilous condition. And here Governor Pillsbury exhibited 
the rare common sense and practical sagacity for which his whole career has been noted. 
Avoiding local politicians, who would be tempted to use their position to further their 
political ends, and also country storekeepers, who might thus seek to collect old debts, and 



18 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

declining the proffered agency of boards and committees, by whose labor and machinery 
benevolent contributions are so often wasted and delayed, the governor searched among the 
country physicians and clergymen for agents to receive and distribute the relief goods to be 
forwarded. Then returning to St. Paul, he issued an eloquent and touching appeal in behalf 
of the settlers, in circular form, which was sent to churches and charitable organizations, 
and widely published by the press East and West. In this call the governor stated that he 
would personally attend to the distribution of such aid as should be sent. The response 
was prompt and generous. Contributions in money, clothing, and provisions poured in from 
all quarters, accompanied often with sympathetic assurances and offers of further aid. At 
first the Capitol was made the receptacle for the supplies, but, the public apartments being 
encumbered with their rapid accumulations, the governor secured the use of a large 
building in Minneapolis, where, after the labors of the day were over, he and his devoted 
wife, who heartily joined in the good work, nightly applied themselves to the task of 
assorting, packing, and forwarding the contributed articles. For weeks the noble work 
w-ent on ; railroads and e.xpress-companics transferred the goods free of charge, and 
generous individuals tendered their .services in various capacities. Thousands of families 
in extreme destitution were thus saved from their sufferings, and it would be difficult to 
exaggerate the touching manifestations of gratitude exhibited by the recipients. 

In his message to the Legislature of 1877, which shortly convened. Governor Pillsbury 
discussed the grasshopper question exhaustively, making many practical recommendations for 
the counteraction of the scourge and the relief of its victims. An appropriation was promptly 
voted to supplement the volunteer charity the governor had carried forward, and further pro- 
vision to meet the emergency was made, pursuant to his suggestions. In that message, too, the 
governor earnestiy renewed his recommendation for the prompt liquidation of the dishonored 
railroad bonds. First summarizing a formidable array of precedents and judicial authori- 
ties, showing the State's legal liability, he forcibly exhibited its moral obligation, and urged 
anew the performance of a duty commanded by the imperative " voice of law, equity, and 
honor." ]5ut the people's representatives were still averse to taking up the subject, which 
endangered their political prospects by arousing bitter prejudice in opposition, and they again 
adjourned without taking action. 

With the approach of spring, the people of the ravaged districts watched the movements 
of the grasshoppers with deep anxiety. The worst-raided localities could endure no further 
inflictions. The subject everywhere commanded wider and closer attention, and the governor, 
complying with the expressed wishes of various religious bodies, and following a time-honored 
custom of his Puritan ancestors, issued a proclamation for a day of fasting and prayer, invit- 
ing the people to unite in asking Divine protection, and in seeking greater humility and new 
consecration in the service of a merciful I-'ather. Such an executive utterance, unusual out- 
side of New England, attracted much attention, and provoked some criticism, but the recom- 
mendation was generally heeded throughout the State, and in many neighborhoods inspired 
new hope for the future. As the season advanced, the insects entirely disappeared. As a 
whole, the crops of 1877 of all kinds were among the most bountiful ever gathered in the 
State, especially in the counties repeatedly afflicted by the grasshopper scourge, and people be- 
lieved that the hand of Divine Providence was in it. Thus perished the pests from the sight 



JOHN SARGENT PILLSBURY. 19 

and thoughts of the people they had so long afflicted ; and only feeble stragglers have since 
been seen, and these too few and scattered to create alarm. 

The State Republican Convention of 1877 renominated Governor Pillsbury by acclama- 
tion, an] at the ensuing election he was chosen for a second term by an increased popular 
majority. The inauguration was conducted with unusual I'cli'.t by direction of a committee 
of the Legislature, under whose supervision the re-elected executive was escorted by a mili- 
tary and civic procession to the Opera House at St. Paul, where the assembled members of 
the Legislature of 1878 listened to the gubernatorial message. This, in high conception of 
principle, and the wisdom and force of practical suggestion, was among the ablest state papers 
ever addressed to a legislative body, and it received deserved commendation at home and 
abroad. The bountiful crops of the previous season had renewed the hopes of the people, 
and there was danger that with aroused energies they would be impelled into new habits of 
extravagance, and indulge in schemes of speculation which would tend to renew the disasters 
of the former days. This the governor sought to avert by an eloquent plea in behalf of re- 
publican simplicity, and more rational habits in public and private life. In this message, too, 
he urged for the third time, with unabated zeal, the speedy adjustment of the outstanding 
railroad bonds, while among other important matters submitted were his recommendations 
for the creation of the office of public examiner ; for the establishment of a high-school 
board ; for the construction of another State prison, as well as further provisions for the 
care of the insane ; for a well-considered loan of seed-wheat to the impoverished victims 
of the grasshopper scourge ; and the renewal of his former recommendation for submission 
to the popular vote of a constitutional amendment providing for biennial in lieu of annual 
sessioins of the Legislature. 

Governor Pillsbury's recommendations received the prompt consideration of the Legis- 
lature, and most of them were adopted. The office of public examiner, first filled by Henry 
M. Kno.x, a gentleman of exceptional capacity, by securing supervision of the public offices 
as well as uniformity of their accounts, has achieved incalculable good by the moral as 
well as financial improvement of the public service. The high-school board, by aiding 
graded schools to fit pupils for the University, supplied a missing link in the ascending scale 
of instruction, and promoted unity in a magnificent school-system. The loan of seed-wheat 
to the grasshopper sufferers, now that the insects had gone, was a wise measure in aid of a 
deserving people too destitute for self-help. The bond question, through the persistent 
appeals of Governor Pillsbury, was at length taken up for consideration. But the most that 
could then be achieved was the passage of a bill submitting to the people a proposition to 
grant the half-million acres of Internal-Improvement Lands held by the State, in exchange 
for the outstanding railroad bonds. This was promptly voted down by the people. And 
finally the substitution of biennial for annual sessions of the Legislature, a change repeatedly 
recommended by Governor Pillsbury, has produced most of the benefits here which have re- 
sulted in the many other States which have adopted it. Aside from the heavy expense 
saved, the escape from tampering with laws before they have been long enough in operation 
to be fairly tried tends to promote more respect and better administration of their just 
provisions. 

But it was not alone these commanding public questions which occupied his attention. 



20 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

His reputation as a just and capable business man, as well as his well-known love of work, 
induced the Legislature to impose upon him manv labors not usually within the scope of ex- 
ecutive duties. He had already, in connection with the attorney-general and railroad 
commissioner, adjusted numerous claims of creditors against the Urainerd ]5ranch Railroad 
(now a part of the system of the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway), and con- 
ducted land sales to provide for their payment. He also endured the discomforts of frontier 
life during a long, hot summer in securing justice to innocent settlers upon railroad lands, in 
order that the claimants might be accommodated near their homes. The lands which had 
been previously granted by Congress to aid in the construction of the St. Paul & Pacific 
Railroad had remained forfeited to the State for several years. During this time the gov- 
ernment had permitted filings and homesteads to be made. In 1877 the Legislature con 
veyed these lands to the Western Railway Company, with a provision for the pri)tection oi 
settlers. Out of this matter arose a large number of controversies. The companv and set 
tiers could not agree, and to adjust these differences the Legislature passed an act which 
imposed upon Governor Pillsbury the duty of adjusting these differences. Although not in 
the line of his duties, he undertook the task, ami spent eighteen months in making these settle- 
ments. He thus secured homes for three hundred an.\ious settlers. He was now called upon 
to execute the provisions of the act for distributing seed-grain, which demanded attention to 
more than six thousand applicants, in thirty-four counties, and required much labor to make 
just awards and supply the needed grain in time for the sowing of an early spring. ]5ut these 
additional duties, thus promptly discharged, were not more cheerfully or faithfully performed 
than those which were voluntarily assumed by the governor himself. Notwithstanding the 
claims of an enormous private business, no public man ever spent more hours at his official 
post, or applied himself more assiduously. Indeed, the exercise of his functions as a public 
and a private citizen seemed with Governor Pillsbury but the conscientious performance of 
a single duty. And thus it was that he was equally prepared to furnish his private means 
in aid of grasshopper sufferers ; to supply from the same source an omitted appropriation for 
the State prison amounting to fiftv-five thousand dollars, in order to avoid calling an extra 
session ; and to urge the payment of an honest public debt for the same reasons as those 
for which he would preserve private honor. 

The accumulating business of a rapidly growing State had long been overcrowding tlie 
several apartments in the Capitol, and additional accommodations had become an imperative 
necessity. To provide these it was proposed to erect an addition to the west wing, of 
sufficient size to afford more office-rooms on the first floor, and an enlarged chamber above 
for the House of Representatives, with committee-rooms. I'or all this the Legislature voted 
fourteen thousand dollars. How it was possible to accomplish so much it was difficult to 
imagine, and it was supposed that the project must either be abandoned or the restriction as 
to cost be disregarded. But Governor Pillsbury, with his strict ideas of public trust, 
managed the matter with such business shrewdness that the whole work was done in good 
and substantial style within the limits of the appropriation. \\'hen the impro\-cmcnts were 
completed and examined, experienced judges placed the figures at three or four times the 
sum actually expended, and, notwithstanding the low prices then prevalent, the achievement 
continues to be incomprehensible. This enlargement of the Capitol having been completed 



JOHN SARGENT PILLSBURY. 21 

in time, the Legislature assembled in joint convention in the commodious new chamber, and 
there received the governor's message for the session of 1879. Governor Pillsbury, referring 
to the agricultural results of the past season, repeated his recommendation for less ex'clusive 
wheat culture, and a more diversified husbandry ; reiterated his condemnation of the practice 
of granting appropriations in excess of receipts of public funds ; enlarged upon popular 
education ; renewed his recommendation for speedy action looking to the creation of 
another State prison, and enlarged accommodations for the insane ; referred to the salutary 
results produced by the new office of public examiner; urged amendments in the tenure-of- 
office and election laws to conesjDond with the biennial sessions ; and, while expressing his 
regret at the recent vote of the people, rejecting the proposed "bond settlement," declared 
that his convictions upon the subject had "undergone no change," and that he hoped for a 
better result "in the near future." After practical suggestions touching agriculture, wheat 
inspection, lake navigation, insolvency, and matters affecting the welfare of future settlers, 
the governor closed with an impressive reference to the national affairs, invoked " a renewed 
recognition of those fundamental principles which gave us political existence," and appealed 
to "that particular love of justice which shall ignore parallels of latitude, and enforce ever)- 
where under the flag the equal rights of all men before the law." 

Klany unexpected matters incident to frontier life, and closely concerning the people's 
welfare, continued to occupy the governor's attention. As the year advanced, there were 
increasing indications of coming political excitement. The approaching termination of the 
terms of most of the State officers created an early canvass among candidates for nomination 
by the Republican convention. Governor Pillsbury had already been solicited by many 
friends of good government, and especially by those favoring the maintenance of the highest 
public credit, to consent to his nomination for a third term. But, in justice to his private 
business, he felt reluctant to continue longer in public service, expressed his wish to retire, 
and pledged his cordial support to any nominee who should aim to consummate an honorable 
settlement of the "bond question." 

The nomination was, however, pressed upon him, and after due consideration of the 
"bond question" he reluctantly accepted a nomination for a third term. His opponent was 
Hon. Edmund Rice of St. Paul, an estimable gentleman, long and widely known throughout 
the State, and respected by persons of all parties. Governor Pillsbury was, however, 
re-elected by a large majorit)-. This was the first and only instance in the histor)' of 
Minnesota in which any governor has been given three terms of office ; but the people had 
such confidence in Governor Pillsbury that they cared nothing for political precedent. 

The constitutional amendment providing for biennial sessions having been adopted by 
popular vote, no legislative session was held in the year 1880, but there was no cessation of the 
demands upon the labors of the executive. That officer was yet busy with the adjustment of 
various settlers' claims when the public was startled with the news of the burning of the State 
Hospital for the Insane, at St. Peter. The ruins had not ceased smoking when Governor 
Pillsbury was on the ground. Taking in the situation at a glance, he exhibited the business 
decision ever characteristic of him, nor was he less ready with his money than with his mental 
resources. With the rapid approach of winter there was the utmost necessity for prompt action. 
One entire wing of the immense asylum was in ruins, and immediate shelter for its helpless 



22 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

inmates was a pressing necessity. To furnish this the governor promptly advanced his 
private funds, as he had done before to the grasshopper victims and to the State prison. 
Slielter and other urgent wants having been provided, permanent provision for their future 
care was deferred to the coming Legislature. That body convened in its first biennial 
session early in January, 1881. The election of Governor Pillsbury was rightly deemed to 
bctoivcn persistence in the attempted liquidation of the old railroad bonds, and both its 
friends and enemies prepared for the renewal of the contest. The tireless efforts and 
appeals of the governor had not been without their educational effects upon the people. 
Their moral sense had been quickened. The Pioneer Press, the leading journal of the 
State, had long taken noble and fearless ground for the honor of Minnesota ; several 
religious bodies joined in swelling the voice of delayed justice ; and there began to be 
indications of a more dispassionate feeling upon the part of the people. With this aroused 
attention and advanced public sentiment, the words of the governor were awaited with new 
interest. They came, in the form of a fervid peroration in his fifth regular message, in 
which he, for the fifth time, urged that faith be kept with those who had served the State in 
her need. In order to remove all honest doubt respecting the legality of the bonds, he 
recommended that an authoritative expression be obtained from the Supreme Court of the 
State ; and then to a strong appeal upon lofty moral considerations he added a persuasive 
entreaty in a manner that secured the earnest and candid attention of the assemblage. 
Manifestations of ajiproval had marked the governor's most pronounced sentiments on the 
bond question, and their closing expression was followed by such warm and prolonged 
applause as encouraged new hopes. 

The limits of this sketch do not admit of a detail of all the i>roceedings connected with 
the long-pending question of the Minnesota State railroad bonds, but some reference to 
their origin and history seems necessary here. The Congress of the United States in 
March, 1857, made a grant of public lands to the then Territory of Minnesota to aid the 
construction of certain designated lines of railroad. Railroads are the first necessity of new 
Stater,, and the objects they most urgently strive for; so, as the Legislature had already 
adjourned its regular annual session, its members were speedily summoned in extra session, 
to lose no time in profiting by the land grant. In due time a general transfer of the lands 
was made to various railroad companies, conditional upon their construction of the roads; 
and there seemed a good prospect for the vigorous prosecution of the work, when the great 
financial 1 evulsion of 1857 so paralyzed financial centres, arrested enterprise, and destroyed 
credit, that it was found impossible to render the granted lands available. This was believed 
to be a temporary collapse, which might and should be bridged over by public assistance so 
that the work could go on. Accordingly, at the session of 1858 an elaborate bill was 
presented in the form of a constitutional amendment, providing for the issue of bonds to 
the amount of five million dollars, to be divided among the railroad companies as a loan of 
credit to enable them to proceed. This, it was generally believed, would at once give 
employment and wages to a discouraged people, and expedite the completion of necessary 
roads. Minnesota had already adopted a State Constitution and elected a State Legislature, 
but was not yet formally admitted into the Union. For the payment of the bonds it pledged 
its unreserved faith and credit ; and, in order to be indemnified for such payment in case of 



JOHN SARGENT PILL SB TRY. 23 

default by the companies, the State was secured by a lien upon their several roadbeds, lands, 
and franchises. The proposition, after a long and thorough discussion in the Legislature, 
in the newspapers, and in public meetings, was enthusiastically adopted by the people. 
Charges were made that the scheme was carried through by corrupt influences, but its 
success was far more due to a zealous public spirit. 

Pursuant to the provisions of the amendment so voted, the bonds were issued under 
the great seal of the State ; they were at first negotiated at little or no sacrifice, and the 
work went forward. It was soon found, nevertheless, that the undertaking was too great 
for so young a State, and that the whole scheme was premature and unwise, especially in 
the face of a monetary depression so radical and severe. Successive issues of the bonds 
suffered necessary discount, the opposition sentiment continued with increased bitterness, 
and finally the bonds could not be negotiated except at a ruinous sacrifice ; then, after a 
total bond-issue amounting to ;g2, 275,000, the whole scheme broke down. Banks which had 
been established upon the security of the deposited bonds collapsed, leaving depreciated 
bills in the people's hands ; business failures everywhere multiplied, and rage and despair 
took possession of a people lately buoyant with pluck and hope. The bonds had been 
issued by degrees, as the work progressed ; but, unfortunately, instead of being withheld 
until the completion of sections of operating roads, the scheme required the separate issue 
of bonds for grading and for finishing the road as distinct contracts. The result was that, 
while the companies did their work faithfully, in strict compliance with all stipulations, they 
had constructed no completed road. They had done a vast amount of work, and had 
expended large sums in building substantial bridges, but with the stoppage of operations the 
people saw only disconnected sections of roadbeds without a mile of completed track. They 
were incensed ; they felt that they had been swindled, and, refusing to see that the fault 
was in the terms of the contract, they demanded both that the outstanding bonds shoidd not 
be paid without their consent and that the securities pledged for their payment should be 
forfeited. It was nothing that forfeiture was conditional upon payment, and that the 
forfeited property belonged to the State only as its indemnity for paying the bonds ; and 
they were blind to the injustice of seizing upon the securities, and refusing the payment 
which alone warranted such a seizure. For the bonds already issued, the stipulated grading 
had been duly performed. But the people saw only the defeat of their fond purposes, and 
so in a spirit of spiteful chagrin they forbade the further issue of bonds, and repudiated 
those already issued, while the property and franchises of the companies were taken by the 
State under foreclosure. These were subsequently transferred to new companies, without 
requiring their assumption of the bond payment; and after this failure to improve the last 
chance of honorable avoidance of liquidation there seemed to ensue a sullen mood of refusal 
by the State to entertain just terms of settlement. 

It was out of this unworthy attitude that Governor Pillsbury sought to arouse the 
citizens. He had full faith in the people's ultimate sense of justice. After their heroic 
sacrifices and sturdy persistence in the darkest hours of the Nation's life-struggle, nothing 
seemed to him too much to expect of their patriotism and honesty of purpose ; and to these 
he resolved to appeal without ceasing. For five years he had labored to avert threatened 
dishonor, and now he was cheered with multiplying promises that his generous faith in 



24 NORTHWEST DIOGRAPIIY. 

popular virtue was to find its reward. Tlic governor's recommendations regarding the 
bonds were referred to a committee of just antl able men, wlio gave the matter considerate 
attention, while soon after an opportunity was affordeil for the bondholders to be heard before 
the members of the Legislature. There Hon. Gordon ]•". Colo, attorney for Mr. Selah 
Chamberlain, the holder of about one-half of the outstanding bonds, gave an c.xhanstive 
exposition of the question, and made a moving appeal for prompt settlement upon a basis of 
liberal concessions from his client and other bondholders. The matter thus committed to 
legislative action was considered in all its bearings, the chief difficulty being to place the 
question in proper shape before the courts, so as to obtain an authoritative opinion upon the 
legal liability of the State. A sovereignty not being suable, this was not a slight obstacle. 
But, with due willingness on both sides, hinderances to honorable adjustments are not 
insurmountable. After due consultation, involving all legal and equitable considerations, a 
bill was at length elaborated providing for the executive ajipointment of five judges from 
the Supreme or District Courts to compose a tribunal, whose duty it was to first decide 
upon the legal character of the bonds, and, if found valid, to then proceed with the settle- 
ment of them by an allowance of fifty cents on a dollar of principal and interest upon past 
due coupons. Provision was, moreover, made for the adjustment of unpaid claims for 
labor and materials used in the original construction of the roads, as well as for the enlist- 
ment of eminent counsel in protecting the interests of the State. After a lengthy discus- 
sion, the bill passed the Legislature, and had just been enrolled in readiness for the executive 
signature, when, on the night of March i, 1881, the Capitol suddenly took fire, and was 
reduced to ruins. The destruction was so sudden that some members of the Legislature had 
difficulty in effecting their escape, while much anxiety was felt for the rescue of the records 
and unsigned acts of the session, especially the " Bond Bill." All these, however, were saved, 
and. Mayor Dawson of St. Paul having promptly tendered the use of the newly completed 
Market House, the rescued property was removed to that structure, and there, the day 
following, the Legislature resumed its deliberations. The next day the great Act of Adjust- 
ment received the governor's signature. The pending legislation of most urgency being 
attended to, the sudden destruction of the State Capitol was recognized as an occasion for 
prompt action. It was .so near the end of the regular session that only tw^o or three days 
were left for legislative action, while to call an extra session would be to attempt an angry 
wrangle among contending localities as to the location of a new Capitol, and incur a cost 
which would go far toward rebuilding the burned edifice. In this emergency the governor 
acted characteristically. Having directed a competent architect to inspect the standing 
walls, and report the estimated cost of rebuilding, he transmitted the result to the Legislature 
with an earnest recommendation to appropriate at once such a sum as would best secure the 
restoration of the burned property, leaving all calculations contemplating permanent recon- 
struction to more deliberate consideration. The governor's advice was followed, and the 
Capitol was speedily restored upon its old site. And now an extraordinary pressure of 
duties devolved upon the governor, following the adjournment of the Legislature. That 
body had jirovided for the enlargement of the Supreme Court by the immediate addition of 
two members, to be at first appointed by the executive. It had required him to choose the 
five members of the tribunal for the final adjustment of the railroad bonds, and it had 



JOHN SARGENT PILLSBURY. 25 

imposed other extra duties upon liim as the result of new legislation. And now the newly 
inaugurated President Garfield, by the appointment of Senator Windom as a member of his 
Cabinet, added the further duty of filling a vacancy in the United-States Senate. So, what 
with despatching the added business usually left by a legislative session, with preparing to 
rebuild the olil quarters, anil providing accommodations in the new, and with hearing and 
reading applications for, and considering the api)i)inlmcnt of, a senator and seven judges, 
the governor had his hands full. Practically, he did more ; for, while promoting experienced 
district judges to the Supreme Bench, he was obliged to supply their places. In the selec- 
tion of appointees to the Supreme Bench, Governor Pillsbury was specially fortunate, his 
selections being Hon. Grccnleaf Clark of St. Paul, a lawyer of eminent standing, and Judges 
William Mitchell of Winona and Daniel A. Dickinson of Mankato, both of whom had won 
high reputations as judges of the district court.s, and both of whom are still on the Supreme 
Bench. These appointments gave great .sati.sfaction throughout the State ; and the fact 
that Governor Pillsbury had dared to disregard political custom by the selection of two of 
the three men from outside the Repul)lican party was an additional evidence that he was 
looking solely to the best interests of the State. lie also appointed several leading Demo- 
cratic lawyers to positions on the District-Court Bench. The excitement and exposure 
attending the burning of the Capitol had inflicted severe illness upon some of the State 
officers ; and at length the governor, with his added responsibilities, was obliged to succumb. 
But he was absent from his post only a few days. It soon became apparent that he was to 
encounter obstacles to the formation of the bond tribunal. It might have been supposed, 
after so long a struggle, terminating in a favorable public sentiment, that with the final 
passage of the bond measure all practical obstacles were over. In reality they were but 
just begun. The proposed tribunal was abnormal in character and purpose. It was clothed 
with doubtful power, and its members were asked to exercise mixed functions. It lacked 
precedent. Under its fair semblance some feared there might lurk dangerous consequences ; 
and there were )'et ominous threatenings from a bitter opposition press. And so most of 
the judges first chosen to comprise the bond tribunal declined to serve. Others appointed 
in their places refused to act in so peculiar a capacity ; and so judge after judge fought shy 
of the doubtful honor, until nearly the whole judicial panel of the State was exhausted. 
The entire summer thus passed away. Devoted friends of the measure, men who had 
nobly striven to avert dishonor from the State, grew faint with still deferred hop?, and at 
length the whole thing was supposed to have failed for want of a beginning. But no one 
who knew Governor Pillsbury believed that his cherished issue was doomed to any such 
pitiful miscarriage. He had labored too long and earnestly for the noble result to accept 
defeat. He had not for a moment thought of giving up the struggle. Biding his time and 
maturing well his plans, he returned to the contest with renewed resources. Skilful plan- 
ning and persistence had at length overcome one objection after another, until four of the 
judges had been secured, leaving but one to complete the tribunal. With due respect for 
conscientious scruples, or other valid reasons for non-action, the governor made no effort to 
influence such of the judges as had urged these for refusing to serve, and hence he confined 
his exertions to such as had interposed no such objections. Finally, however, the tribunal 
was made up of the five judges. Hon. Austin H. Young of Minneapolis was made president 
of the tribunal. 



26 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

Public interest in the bond question was quickly revived. The day was fixed for the 
organization, counsel for both sides made due preparation, and proceedings were about to 
commence, when, suddenly, an actor not on the programme gave a wholly new turn to 
affairs. All the proceedings had been closely watched by a legal gentleman, well known for 
his acumen, and also as an opponent of the adjustment of the bond question. This gentle- 
man, without reference to the counsel arrayed against the bondholders, of his own motion 
applied for a writ to arrest all proceedings. This brought the competency of the tribunal 
at once into question before the Supreme Court of the State. In order to a right decision, 
it was necessary to review the origin, scope, and purpose of the tribunal, and to this end it 
was of course requisite to consider the whole question, including the original issue and 
validity of the bonds, and the State's liability. Thus there was suddenly obtained that 
adequate standing before the Supreme Court which legal ingenuity had failed to devise. 
The application for this writ was fortunate, since an experimental process of settlement was 
to give way to the unquestioned adjudication of the highest State court. Proceedings went 
forward, and after long and able arguments by Hon. William J. Hahn, the Attorney-General 
of Minnesota, Hon. Thomas Wilson, and David A. Seacombe, Esq., for the State, and Hon. 
Gordon E. Cole and Hon. John M. Gilman for the bondholders, a decision was made which 
put all legal questions at rest. Chief Justice Gilfillan, in a profound and exhaustive opinion, 
declared the Adjustment Act of March 2, 1881, to be void ; reiterated the judgment of the 
United-States Supreme Court as to the constitutionality of the amendment making payment 
of the bonds to depend on the popular vote as impairing the obligations of contracts ; and 
solemnly averred not only that the Legislature alone was vested with power to pay the 
bonds, but that it was the bounden duty of that body to perform such act of justice. The 
Supreme Court having itself made the decision which was required of the bond tribunal as 
a condition of settlement. Governor Pillsbury resolved to call an extra session of the Legis- 
lature to complete the adjustment. Here a new difficulty presented itself. The Act of 
Adjustment had required, as a pledge of good faith, a certain deposit of bonds, with an 
accompanying agreement by their holders to accept fifty per cent of their nominal claims in 
full settlement. Many holders of these deposited bonds now demanded their return, both 
because the act requiring the deposit had been pronounced void, and because of their 
unwillingness to accept half-payment, since the decision of the Supreme Court obligin_g the 
Legislature to settle, and in view of the ability of the State to pay in full. This demand 
the governor refused, on the ground that the transaction between the bondholders and the 
State was essentially a contract, which continued to bind the parties, as only the mode of 
performance had been affected by the decision of the court. This conclusive edict from the 
highest authority had vastly stimulated the market value of the bonds, which now reached 
with interest an aggregate exceeding eight million dollars. But, upon prompt consultation 
with leading holders, the governor obtained from them a promise to adhere to their original 
arrangements to abate half the amount, provided the adjustment was immediately consum- 
mated. Upon this, the governor at once issued his call for an extra session of the Legis- 
lature, to meet on the eleventh day of October, 1S81. On that day the two bodies 
assembled, and on the next day the governor delivered his last formal message. It was 
brief and pointed, and referred to nothing but the business of adjustment. Upon that 



JOHN SARGENT PILLSBURY. 27 

subject it was masterly and convincing in a rare degree. Reciting the action of the 
Supreme Court, and referring to the offer of the bondholders, he urged that there could no 
longer be any reasonable doubt as to the duty to be performed. The court of last resort 
had affirmed the validity of the bonds and enjoined upon the Legislature the duty of 
providing for their payment. The duty had been simplified by the judicial command ; what 
had been conditional, and to some extent of doubtful procedure, now rested upon " the 
immutable basis of adjudicated law and justice." The governor declared his individual 
preference to be that every dollar of the State's indebtedness should be paid in full, 
principal and interest. Such he thought the only course consistent with the honor of the 
sovereign body, so far as its own voluntary action was concerned. But when creditors, of 
their own motion, offered to accept less payment, there was an opportunity for easy liquida- 
tion without necessary compromise of reputation, and therefore expediency, justice, and 
honor united in the demand for prompt action. Continuing, the^governor said, "The prac- 
tical question simply is, whether we shall now save some four millions of dollars to the State 
without loss of honor, or incur the reproach of repudiation, keep going a source of constant 
annoyance and an opportunity for political jugglery, and in the end pay the debt in full; 
for it cannot be possible that an intelligent and progressive people, with moral and religious 
convictions, can refuse the final payment of an honest debt. An individual who does this 
while able to pay, justly incurs the scorn of his honest neighbors. What must be thought 
of a prosperous State which does it, using its sovereignty as its shield ? " The governor 
then, after showing how readily payments could be made from the proceeds of the half- 
million acres of internal improvement lands, added a parting appeal : " Unless therefore the 
pending settlement be now completed, we will be confronted with the bald chance between 
total payment and naked repudiation. Dare we contemplate this final alternative 1 What 
are our fair possessions — what the bountiful gifts of nature and the proud achievements of 
industry —if we preserve not our honor as their crown and shield .' Of what avail are the 
institutions and the prosperity of which we boast .'' 

" For the enduring welfare of the fair State we have chosen as our home ; as we would 
justly share in that national heritage of financial honor which is the wonder of the world ; 
that we may deserve the reward of a generous prosperity and invoke the blessings of 
Almighty God, — I entreat you as a parting word to perform a simple act of justice, which 
shall forever put to rest the haunting spectre of repudiation, and place our young common- 
wealth irrevocably in the sisterhood of honorable States." 

With such an, impressive entreaty following arguments so unanswerable, the incentives 
to action proved irresistible. The question seemed no longer to possess two sides, and the 
Legislature went to work with every disposition to insure an honorable consummation. 
Considerable difficulty was encountered in the arrangements of details. It had been pro- 
posed to take up the old bonds and replace them with new obligations, bearing five per cent 
interest, which was assented to by the claimants. But, in settling with so many creditors, 
a large sum in cash would be required to meet fractional excesses. Not only to provide this 
sum, but to insure the negotiable status of the new bonds, it was reported that they should 
be placed on the same footing as other obligations supported by the faith and credit of the 



28 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

State. To this end Governor Pillsbiiry arranged with Mr. Chamberlain, and other leading 
creditors, that one million dollars of renewed bonds should be invested in the State school- 
fund, in consideration of which they agreed to accept four and one-half, in lieu of five per 
cent interest. This proposition raised a storm. The school-fund of the State had long 
been regarded with an awe akin to superstition ; and to desecrate the sacred treasure by 
any connection of the hated bond matter seemed too much for popular endurance. But the 
answer was that this final settlement was made in either good or bad faith. If the first, 
there could not be a more fitting disposition made of the promises secured by the honor and 
credit of the State, and so, one difficulty after another being successfully met, the act 
passed the Legislature. The public was not long in discovering that in the exchange of 
securities commanding a high premium and low interest, for the more profitable new bonds, 
a gain was assured to the State which must soon appro.ximate half a million dollars ; and so 
sensible a transaction accordingly received the applause it merited. All obstacles being 
overcome, the settlement was completed in the closing days of Governor Pillsbury's admin- 
istration, and to the leader in the noble triumph it must have been a proud and grateful 
reflection that, excepting a few unpresented bonds in unknown hands, not an unredeemed 
obligation remained to dishonor his State. 

To the crowding labors of the eventful year was added the care of the sufferers from a fear- 
ful cyclone which in July destroyed the town of New Ulm, and inflicted misery upon a long 
reach of neighboring counties. With all his cares Governor Pillsbury was not too much 
absorbed to organize a system of relief, and to collect and forward timely aid for the victims. 
The incessant rains and high winds following the burning of the Capitol had so wrecked 
the standing walls that their removal and the construction of a new building became neces- 
sary ; and, in order to insure a substantial edifice, a foundation of massive masonry was laid 
under the direction of the governor. The obstructions to the practical settlement of the 
bond issue had assumed at one time such formidable shape that its advocates seriously con- 
templated the necessity of a fourth term for Governor Pillstairy, to insure the completion of 
the adjustment, and some ardent friends went so far as to propose his name in the Republi- 
can convention. But this was against the governor's wishes ; and, as he had faith in the 
completion of his special work, he looked to the close of his third term as a welcome release 
from his toils. That these toils with their attendant responsibilities were of an unusurd 
character, will not be doubted by those who care to know the facts. It is seldom, indeed, 
that the highest ofificer of an American commonwealth is charged witii so -man)- and impor- 
tant duties as those which crowded the six years' administration of Governor Pillsbury. What 
with the labor of repelling the grasshopper invasions ; the efforts to rescue the sufferers from 
their ravages ; the duty of adjusting the claims of numerous settlers of railroad lands ; the 
appointment of many new judicial and other officers ; the trials following the destruction of the 
State Capitol ; the demands pertaining to the care for new accommodations ; the providing 
for the inmates of the burned insane asylum ; and the various labors and responsibilities in 
adjusting a long-standing indebtedness which saved the credit of the State and subserved 
public justice — there was a ceaseless demand upon the governor's time and attention. 
Governor Pillsbury always jjosscssed the happy faculty of doing his work easily ; he never 
got excited, and always commanded his temper. In the most excited crowd he never lost 



JOHN SARGENT PILLSBURY. 29 

his self-poise, and was always quiet and unruffled. Nor could such labors have fallen to 
more capable or willing hands, or have been more assiduously and conscientiously performed. 
While the most paternal of all Minnesota's executives. Governor Pillsbury was happy in ex- 
tending timely aid to the people without undermining their self-dependence. He elevated 
their moral sense, while relieving their personal wants. He united large comprehension 
with rare capacity for practical details. With such warm s)'mpathics as are apt to blind the 
judgment, he has a knowledge of men almost unerring, and the excellence of his judicial 
and other appointments, lifted above party bias, won applause from all parties. While not 
possessed of the showy qualities which challenge popular intoxication, he possessed ad- 
ministrative and executive abilities of the highest order. These, impelled by kindly im- 
pulses toward his fellows, have gix'en his many wise and good deeds an imperishable 
lodgement in the hearts of the grateful people whose best welfare he labored to promote. 
No man ever possessed a safer judgment, or had more of that old-fashioned quality some- 
times called common sense. 

During all of the time of which we have been speaking, Governor Pillsbury still managed 
his large financial interests. His hardware business had increased in volume and was 
remarkably successful. In 1872 he engaged in the manufacture of flour in Minneapolis, 
with his nephew, Hon. Charles A. Pillsbury, and his brother, Hon. George A. Pillsbury, the 
firm being known as C. A. Pillsbury & Co. To this firm was also admitted Fred C. Pills- 
bury, a son of George A. Pillsbury. Of the magnitude of this business it is not necessary 
to speak here, more than to say that the firm is doing the largest business in its line in the 
world, and the products of its mills (which are over ten thousand barrels a day, when all 
their machinery is running) are known throughout the world. Governor Pillsbury is also en- 
gaged heavily in lumbering and real estate ; he has also been identified in the construction of 
railroads which have tended to develop the Northwest, and is largely interested as a director 
of the Minneapolis & St. Louis, and the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Stc. Marie Railroads. 
For many years he has been a director in several of the leading Minneapolis banks. His 
business judgment has been sought by all, and he has always exercised great weight in the 
councils of the various kinds of business with which he has been identified. One of his chief 
personal traits has been his simplicity of manner, and his sympathy for those in need of 
sympathy. His personal charities and benevolences to deserving causes have been large 
Although not a member, he has been a constant attendant and officer of the First Congre 
gational Church of Minneapolis, to which he has contributed very generously. He has 
always kept alive his deep interest in the University of Minnesota. As the State increased 
in population and wealth, and the demands for a higher education also increased, Governor 
Pillsburv's ambition for the development of the University kept pace with the advanced 
needs. 

From September, 1869, to September, 1884, William W. Folwell was president of the Uni- 
versity, and discharged his duties with credit. In all his efforts he was always seconded by 
Governor Pillsbury. In 1884, President Folwell, in order that he might more thoroughly 
study political science, resigned his position to take the chair of Political Economy, which 
position he still retains. A special committee of the regents, consisting of Governor Pills- 
bury, Judge Greenleaf Clark, and ex-Governor Sibley, was appointed to select his successor. 



30 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

To this question Governor Pillsbury ant! Judge Clark addressed their attention, and visitcil 
different institutions and put forth special efforts to make a wise selection. The choice 
finally fell on Prof. Cyrus Northrop, of Yale, w'.io accepted the presidency in 1884. Gov- 
ernor Pillsbury had always a keen knowledge of men, and no mistake was made in PresiJent 
Northrop. The University has expanded and developed in many directions, and has its 
various grades of instruction of a character equal to those of any University, with widening 
plans for the future. 

At this time the total number of those attending the University is seven hundred and 
fift)'. Being a State institution, it has been deprived of those bequests and gifts which arc 
given to private colleges ; and it is, therefore, dependent upon the State for financial sup- 
port. Governor Pillsbury has always taken a personal interest in the matter of securing 
appropriations, and the fact that he is identified with the Universit}' has been a potent factor 
in securing aid from the Legislature. 

The demands of the University for new buildings, and particulaily for a large hall of 
science, became pressing in the winter of 1888-9. April 16, 1889, the matter was under 
consideration before the regents and a committee of both houses of the Legislature. No 
one knew what to do; finally Governor Pillsbury arose, and in a quiet way spoke as fol- 
lows : — 

^^ Gentlemen of the Legislature and of the Board of Regents, — The I'fTort of members of the 
present Legislature to divide the State farms from the State University, which has just come to an 
unsuccessful end, has aroused me to a feeling that the people of Minnesota should have a better 
knowledge of the liistory of that University and those farms, so that we may not again incur tiie 
risk of such an undertaking. I would like to run over the history of this whole institution from its 
beginning, and give some facts which are known to only a few now living. In 1851 the United-States 
Congress granted forty-si.K thousand acres of land in Minnesota for the establishment of a university. 
In 1856 these lands were mortgaged in the sum of forty thousand dollars, and l)onds issued thereon 
for the erection of University buildings. As soon as these were constructed, in 1857, a mortgage 
for fifteen thousand dollars was placed upon tiiem. Tiie financial crash of 1857 embarrassed the 
State very much, and the University and lands were considered lost. The board of regents of i860 
were unable to do anything toward paying the debt, and a few of us took up enough of tiie debt lo 
preserve the property for the State still longer. In 1864 I became a member of the State Senate, 
and made it my especial work to try to save this property. The late Judge John M. Berry, who 
had been a regent, and resigned, was with me in this effort. I unfolded a plan to him, and asked 
him to draw^ a bill authorizing the appointment of three regents, with power to adjust matters. 
The bill became a law, and John Nicols of St. Paul and O. C. Merriman and myself of Minneapolis 
were appointed such regents. I knew where all the debts were, and took them up by compromises, 
and finally settled them all, so that in 1867 we had saved the University building, twenty acres of 
the campus, and thirty-three thousand acres of tlie forty-si.x thousand of the Congressional grant. 
In 1862 Congress granted the State a hundred and twenty thousand acres of land for an agri- 
cultural college, upon which grant the State actually got ninety-four thousand acres of land. In 
1868 a consolidation of the grant for an .agricultural college and the Stale University was brougiu 
about, upon the general feeling that it was better to have one university which would be a credit to 
the State than to have two inferior institutions of which nobody could be proud. In 1869 we 
bought the so-called old farm of a hundred and si.xty acres, paying eighty-five hundred dollars for 



JOHN SARGENT PILLSBURY. 31 

it. It proved to be unsatisfactory land for an experiment farm, tlie purpose for wliich we procured 
it, and we sold it for the magnificent sum of a hundred and twenty-eight thousand dollars. Then 
we purchased two hundred and fifty acres of ground, paying two hundred dollars per acre for a 
hundred and fifty-five acres of it, and three hundred dollars for ninety-five acres. -We built 
upon this the experiment building, wliich, together with other improvements, cost us seventy-five 
thousand dollars. .Since, we have erected upon the grounds a building for the agricultural school, 
which cost nineteen thousand dollars. 'J'he whole property, which originally cost eighty-five hundred 
dollars, can be sold to-day for from four hundred thousand to four hundred a:id fifty thousand 
dollars. In 1870 Congress gave to the University of Minnesota forty-six thousand acres more of 
land. Now, gentlemen, here in brief is the history of an institution which lias been fostered and 
guarded by General Sibley, Judge Clark, and all these honored and respected citizens of Minnesota, 
through all sorts of discouragements, until we have now something wliieh is beginning to take a high 
rank among the institutions of learning of the United States. Not one dollar have any of us ever 
received for our services. We are building a hall of science. We wanted tlie Legislature to appro- 
priate two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for this structure, but we were allowed only a hundred 
thousand dollars. The question now is, shall we stop the work where it is, and take our chances on 
some future Legislature for the remainder of the desired two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, 
incurring, as it would, the risk of the work standing forever in its present unfinished condition. 

" .^s the Statfe has not the funds, I want to help this Universiiy myself. I have long 
had the intention of leaving something for it. I think I cannot do belter for the Slate which has 
so highlv honored me, and for the University that I so much love, than by making a donation for the 
completion of these buildings; and I propose to erect and complete Science Hall at an expense of a 
hundred and fifty thousand dollars, more or jess, and present it to the State; and all I ask is to 
know tliat these land-grants be kept intact, and this institution be made one that this great State 
may be proud of ; that may be adequate to the needs of the State, an honor to it, and a lasting 
monument of the progress which is characteristic of this State now and in the years to come — some 
assurance that wlien I am dead and gone this institution shall be kept for all time, broad in its 
scope, powerful in its influence, as firm and substantial in its maturity as it was weak and struggling 
in the days that saw its birth." 

It is needless to speak of the effect of the words of Governor Pillsbury upon the people 
of Minnesota. The Legislature hurried to do him honor, and to place on record a formal 
vote of thanks. The students of the University, in a public reception, could not find language 
sufficiently strong to express their feelings of gratitude. 

During the five years from 1884 to 1889, in which President Northrop has been at the 
head of the University, Governor Pillsbury has been untiring in his efforts to promote the 
efficiency of the institution. As chairman of the executive committee, he has had practical 
control of the finances and the expenditures ; and his unfailing patience in attending to the 
multitude of its wants, in providing for the payment of bills, and in superintending the 
construction of new buildings, has been wonderful. With a hearty appreciation of what 
Governor Pillsbury has done. President Northrop, in his Baccalaureate address, on Sunday, 
June 2, 1889, referred to him and his noble gift to the University in the following terms : — 

"The names of George Peabody, whose monument may be seen in Harvard and Yale, and 
men who within the last few years have done great service to humanity by unprecedented gifts, 
especially Otis, Hand, and Slater, all of Connecticut, will readily occur to you ; and I am sure that as 



32 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

1 speak all of you are thinking of the recent noble gift to this University by our friend and neighbor 
Governor Pillsbury. 

"It is not the first time that he has shown his generous interest in tliis institution ; indeed, it 
is owing to him that the University exists at all, for by unwearied efforts of his the University was 
rescued from hopeless debt, e\en before it was organized for work. During all the years in which 
that able scholar. Dr. FoKvell, the first president of the University, was laying its foundations and 
wisely planning its educational work. Governor Pillsbury was the sagacious counsellor, the earnest 
friend, the faithful regent, watching over the financial interests of the institution with ceaseless 
vigilance, ever ready to sacrifice his time, his business, and his ease to its welfare. ]!y his kindness 
and charity in his daily life, by his public spirit, his wise services to the State in both legislative and 
executive p/isitions, his free-handed benevolence to the suffering people of the State in a time of 
great trial, and his (inn au.l ilcterniined stand for the honor of the State in a time of great public 
temptation, he deserves to be remembered \vith gratitude by the people of this State to the remotest 
generation. But for no one of his many noble deeds will he be longer remembered than for this his 
muniScent gift of a hundred and fifty thousand dollars to the State and the University, at a time 
when the financial condition of the State made it impossible for the Legislature, however well 
disposed, to grant the money which it needed to carry forward its enlarging work. He has shown 
himself wise in making this gift while he lived, and might justly hope to witness in the increased 
prosperity of the University, the fruits of his own benevolence. He has shown himself wise in 
estimating money at its just value, — not for what it is, but for what it can do, — not as something to 
be held and loved and gloated over, or to be expended in personal aggrandizement and luxury, but as 
something whicii can work mightily for humanity: which can re-enforce even the educational power 
of a sovereign State ; which can enrich human minds, and can thus lift up into the true greatness of 
a noble citizenship the sons and daughters of the whole Northwest." 

Governor Pillsbury was married in Warner, New Hampshire, November 3, 1856, to 
Miss Mahala Fisk, a lady of rare qualities, who has always been deeply interested in all his 
projects, and who has seconded all his efforts. Mrs. Pillsbury was the daughter of Captain 
John Fisk, one of the descendants of Rev. John Fisk, who emigrated to Windham, Massa- 
chusetts, from Suffolk, England, in 1637. 

The immediate family of Governor Pillsbury has included Addie, born October 4, 1859, 
the deceased wife of Charles M. Webster; Susan M., born June 23, 1863, the wife of Mr. 
Fred B. Snyder, a promising young attorney of Minneapolis ; Sarah Belle, born June 30, 
1 866; and Alfred Fisk, born October 20, 1868. 



THOMAS BARLOW WALKER. 33 



THOMAS BARLOW WALKER. 

WHAT photography is to the human face, biography is to the soul. The one, with the 
marvellous pen of light, sketches the outward features of physical being ; the other 
traces the progressive development of mind from infancy to manhood, demonstrating 
that the diversity of character in individuals is as limitless as the physiognomy of man. 

In taking notes of the life of Thomas Barlow Walker, it will be found that he comes 
into the list of American eminent men who have carved their pathway up the hill of fame 
with energetic and persistent endeavors. He was born in Xenia, Green- County, Ohio, 
February i, 1840. He is the third child, and second son, of Piatt Bayless and Anstis 
Barlow Walker. 

In 1848 the father of the subject of this sketch, en route for California, having 
embarked nearly all of his worldly wealth in the enterprise, fell a victim to the cholera at 
Warrensburg, Missouri. In those days, the low ebb of commercial honor was such that not 
a dollar of the thousands that had been invested came back to the widow and four young 
children, one scarcely more than a babe. 

The widow thus bereft was the daughter of Hon. Thomas Barlow, of New York, and 
sister of Judge Thomas Barlow, of Canastota, New York, and Judge Moses Barlow, of Green 
County, Ohio. Though young and ine.xperienced in the business of life, she made a brave 
fight against adversity, and lived many years to enjoy the fruits of her labor, in the 
homes of her affectionate children. In 1883, May 23, she died at the residence of her son 
Thomas, of Minneapolis, of whose family she had been an honored member for several years. 

It is due to the subject of this biography to embrace this brief record of his respected 
parents. It will help us to explain and understand some of the sources of character which 
are found in the events of his life, and enable us to appreciate inherited energies and habits 
of usefulness, and to value the influences of example and practical education. 

The early days of Mr. Walker were given to industry and study. The activity and 
bent of his mind may be inferred from the fact that he early discovered a taste and capacity 
for the most abstruse studies, especially for the higher mathematics. He was not only a 
natural student, but a practical one. The adverse circumstances surrounding him in these 
early years rendered his opportunities for gaining knowledge from books extremely limited. 
But, as some one wisely remarks, obstacles sometimes operate as incentives to success, if 
the ardent mind is powerful enough to grapple with them. His thirst for learning was 
insatiable, and from all available sources he gathered up knowledge. 

In his sixteenth year the family removed to Berea, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, for the 
better educational advantages to be obtained in the Baldwin University. This change in 
the locality of the family seems to have been the turning-point in the life of the boy. He, 
here and then, resolved to drop all the boy out of his life, and take up the man. Here, for 
the first time, he fully appreciated the worth of an education, and determined at any cost to 
obtain it. Though at this time financially unable to pursue a collegiate course of study, he 



34 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

never lost sight of his books. Aside from the duties of his clerkship, all spare time was 
rigidly devoted to study. Although his average attendance at school did not exceed one 
term in the year, he kept pace with, and often outstripped, his regular college classes. He 
was a most indefatigable student. During these years, while employed as a commercial 
traveller, his heavy case of books constituted his principal baggage. 

Throughout life Mr. Walker has been a model of industry. lie rightly considered 
idleness as a vice, and in every period of life work was his especial delight ; for he fully 
realized that without persistent mental and physical labor — such as few will voluntarily 
undertake — lie never could have reached the prosperou eminence of his later years. 
The department of knowledge in which he especially excelled, and ultimately became 
eminent in the highest degree, was the higher mathematics, with the kindred branches, 
astronomy, chemistry, and the mechanical arts. To these studies, thus earnestly pursued 
and laboriously acquired, he is indebted, no doubt, for the ability which in later life afforded 
him that clear perception and foresight, combined with continuous and unremitting labor, 
which have characterized his whole business career. 

When nineteen years of age, Mr. Walker's commercial-agency travels brought him to 
the little town of Paris, Illinois, where a profitable business venture opened up to him, in 
buying timber land and cutting cross-ties for the Terre Kaute & St. Louis Railroad Com- 
pany. Few boys of his age would have seen the business opening; and fewer still would 
have thought it possible to overcome the obstacles in the way of the undertaking. A 
boy without business experience, a stranger in the community, without means, and dependent 
entirely upon the credit which he might be able to establish with the local banks for funds 
to prosecute the work, he has probably never in his later business career undertaken any 
transaction involving so much nerve as well as self-reliance, combined with consummate tact 
and sound judgment, as this "cross-tie" contract in the wild woods and pathless forests of 
Illinois. In a brief time he had his plans matured, funds secured, contracts closed, and board- 
ing camps built ; and the clear music of scores of axes was ringing through the wood.s. 
This enterprise consumed eighteen months of Time, and was a thoroughly creditable busi- 
ness, and financial success in every point that could have been foreseen ; but the failure of 
the company the same month the work was completed robbed him of all, save a small 
fraction, of the profits arising from the enterprise. With the few hundred dollars thus 
saved, he returned to his maternal home and books. The following winter he spent in 
teaching a district school, in which calling he was highly successful. Being himself a care- 
ful student, practical, clear, and direct in views and aims, he was able to present knowledge 
and the intricacies of study in so plain and simple a form as to make everything easily 
understood by his pupils. He rightly ranked the teacher's profession above all others, 
because of its power to make or mar the young and plastic character. In 1862, enter- 
taining the idea of making teaching a profession, he made application to the Board of the 
Wisconsin State University for the chair of the assistant professorship of Mathematics, to 
which he was subsequently elected. But, the action of the board being delayed, he made 
arrangements, before their favorable action was reported to him, to engage in the gov- 
ernment surveys. At this time, while at McGregor, Iowa, Mr. Walker met a citizen 
of the then almost unknown village called Minneapolis. True to tlie inborn instincts 



THOMAS BARLOW WALKER. 35 

of the Minneapolis citizen, tliis casual acquaintance — Mr. Robinson — so enlarged upon the 
beauties of this embryo city that Mr. Walker decided at once to visit it, and accordingly 
took passage upon the first steamer for St. Paul, thence over the whole length of the only 
line of railway in the State of Minnesota, a distance of nine miles, from St. Paul to 
Minneapolis. One hour after his arrival he had engaged to go on a government survey, 
with the leading surveyor of the State, Mr. George B. Wright, and began active preparations 
for immediately taking the field. Mr. Walker's impressions of Minneapolis were so favora- 
ble that he wrote back to his Ohio home, and to his affianced wife, "/ have found the spot 
ivhcre zve will make our hojiic.'^ 

The expedition, however, was destined to terminate disastrously. The Indian outbreak 
forced the party for safety into Fort Ripley. Mr. Walker returned to Minneapolis, devoting 
the summer to the survey of the first trial line of the St. Paul & DuUith Railroad. 

The following season, T. B. Walker, on revisiting his parental home, was united in wed- 
lock, Dec. ig, 1863, in Berea, Ohio, by Rev. J. Wheeler, D.D., his former college president, 
and brother-in-law of his wife, to Harriet G., youngest daughter of Hon. Fletcher Hulet. 

In 1868, Mr. Walker began his first deal in pine lands. His knowledge of the vast 
tracts of unlocated pine forests of the State of IMinnesota. gained in his vocation as sur- 
veyor of government lands, strongly impressed him with their immense value. The vast 
field of wealth and enterprise thus opened up by Mr. Walker was regarded at this period 
with little if any interest by the leading lumber-men of Minneapolis. His first pine-land 
partners were Hon. L. Butler and Howard W. Mills ; they putting their money against his 
labor, the lands thus found and located becoming the joint property of the three. From 
this date, during a series of years, the labor of Mr. Walker was severe and unremitting. 
Himself limited in means, he availed himself of the capital of others to carry forward his 
gigantic lumber enterprises. All lands thus secured by him he located from actual personal 
examination, which kept him in the forests with his men many months at a time each year, 
for some ten consecutive years. In connection with his surveys and pine-land matters, Mr. 
Walker is also extensively engaged in various sections of the Northwest in the manufacturing 
of lumber. Mr. Walker has been largely interested in the old Butler Mills and Walker 
lumber business, afterwards L. Butler & Co., and later Butler & Walker, and the mills built 
by those firms on the Falls of St. Anthony ; and afterwards in the formation of the Camp & 
Walker business, and the purchase of the large Pacific Mills, which were afterwards de- 
stroyed by fire and rebuilt into the finest and most important mills in the city or on the 
Upper Mississippi. Of late years he has been conspicuously interested in the large lumber 
mills at Crookston, Minnesota, and Grand Forks, Dakota, both of which are most prominent 
features in the development of the Northwest. All these mills furnished employment for 
thousands of men for many years ; while those located in the Red-River Valley cheapened 
the price of lumber, and aided very materially in the development of that section of the 
country. It may be remarked in this connection that Mr. Walker's lifelong business career, 
although extremely prosperous, has, nevertheless, on certain occasions, suffered severe 
disasters ouu. by fire and flood. 

Mr. Walker's career has been remarkable for originality of method and strict business 
integrity. His word has always been as good as his bond. Extremely liberal in the use of 



36 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

his wealth, his charities are unlimited ; all classes have been more or less benefited by 
the subjects of his beneficence. At the time of the grasshopper visitation, by which the 
farmers of the western part of the State of Minnesota were reduced to a condition of 
poverty and semi-starvation pitiful to contemplate, Mr. Walker's efforts in behalf of suffering 
humanity were untiring. As soon as the grasshopper scourge had disappeared, he organizetl 
a scheme for the raising of late crops, that was of inestimable value to settlers. -He bought 
up all the turnip-seed and likewise that of buckwheat to be had in the twin cities, and, 
at the same time, telegraphed to Chicago for all that was for s:ile there. In this labor of 
love, Mr. Walker himself visited the afflicted sections ; making up the seed into paper 
packages, and with hired teams conducted a systematic distribution over many townships. 
The season was so far advanced that only these late crops could be attempted. This timely 
aid saved hundreds of families and numberless cattle from starvation. When the free distri- 
bution of these seeds became known in the afflicted districts, many farmers walked fifteen 
or twenty miles to meet the teams, and thus avail themselves of Mr. Walker's beneficence. 

For many years he was one of the managers of the State Reform School. For fifteen 
years or more Mr. Walker worked systematically and persistently to build up the old 
Athenaeum (a joint stock company) into a fine public library, and through the agency, assist- 
ance, and goodwill of various other citizens, he succeeded in this great task. Recognizing 
his achievement, the board insisted on his acting as its president, since its organization 
several years ago. For many years he worked amidst the most persistent and determined 
opposition from various parties, and was seriously misunderstood and misapprehended. The 
records of those years show numerous communications, personal letters and criticisms, and 
his answers, regarding the part taken by him in the old Athenasum in his endeavors to change 
it from a rigid, close corporation into this public institution which is now the source of so 
much pride and satisfaction to the people. No man in the State has taken greater interest or 
a more active part in any public institution than he has in this, expending a large amount of 
time and considerable money in working the desired transformation. The noble and spacious 
building just completed contains not only a magnificent library, but also the Minnesota 
Academy of Natural Science, an institution with which Mr. Walker has been identified for 
years and which he has helped more materially than any one else ; and the Minneapolis 
Society of Fine Arts, with which he has been connected as president for several years. 
Taken altogether, the library-science-art building makes what is regarded as the finest 
public institution of the kind in the city or State. Mr. Walker's private library, consisting 
of a judicious selection of choice books, manifests a mind well stored with useful knowledge 
as well as a spirit of high culture and refined taste. Of late years Mr. Walker has given 
much attention to matters of art, and has made a collection of paintings which exhibit not 
only a cultivated taste, but likewise an artistic eye for the beautiful in nature. His gallery 
walls are graced with rare productions of the first masters, both ancient and modern, includ- 
ing Jules Kreton's "L'Appelle du Soir," — one of the most famous pictures at the Interna- 
tional Exhibition, — and Madame Demont Breton's " Her Man is on the Sea," purchased 
at the Salon. This exquisite collection of paintings — one of the finest private galleries in 
America or Europe — has recently been described in the Art Review, "The Collector." 

In 1S74, Mr. Walker erected at the corner of Eighth Street and Hennepin Avenue, for 



THOMAS BARLOW WALKER. 37 

his permanent residence, a palatial mansion in which the family one year later took up its 
abode. He is the father of eight children, seven of whom live to cheer and bless the paren- 
tal home. The second son, Leon, a noble youth of nineteen years, just as he had joined his 
brother Gilbert in business, was suddenly stricken with fever ; and death, in one brief week, 
bereft the family of one tenderly loved, and whose cherished memory will live forever in each 
heart of the home circle. 

We close this sketch, not because the subject is exhausted, but because enough has 
been said to command attention to a man who, by his acts, is entitled to high consideration 
for what he has done and what he is doing. He has opened wide paths to industry and 
enterprise, and extends a helping hand to all honest and well-disposed men who seek labor. 

In conclusion the following extract from a paper by T. 1}. Walker, read at the recent 
Sanitary Conference in Minneapolis, is subjoined, as suggestive and highly instructive : — 

"The rearing and training of children is justly regarded by the wiser portion of mankind as the 
highest and most important duty devolving upon the human race. It underlies all other interests, 
and upon its measure and direction depend the welfare and happiness of the succeeding generation. ' 

"The subject is as old as the race; but its antiquity takes not the least from its supreme 
unportance. On the contrary, its great age adds immeasurably to tlie difficulty of rightly determining 
its bounds. 

"As each generation comes and goes, and leaves behind it the records of its life-work, and adds 
to the long list of previous discoveries, inventions, and compositions, it has produced a vast accumu- 
lation of wisdom and of folly, of useful and beautiful things so mixed with worthless or injurious 
ones that tlie difficulty in rightly directing children's thoughts and studies is increased with the vast- 
ness of the accumulated records. If men investigated the training of children as carefully and 
consistently as they do medicine, astronomy, geology, or almost any subject other than this, there 
would be a step taken which would profit the world far more than in any other research to' which 
they might direct their attention. The science of philosophy of education is comparatively an 
uncultivated field. The art of teaching is quite extensively discussed. Eloquent appeals are made 
for men to educate; the supreme necessity of widespread, general education is universally 
recognized; but the astonishing indifference and criminal carelessness concerning the quality, 
quantity, and method of our so-called education quite neutralizes the great merit of recognizintr the 
value of true and appropriate training. Or, in other words, we feel justified in saying that'the people 
generally have retrograded more by their general forgetfulness or misapprehension of the true object 
of education, than they have gained by their allegiance to the principle of the general necessity for 
a diffusion of knowledge among all classes. Education implies, according to all authorities, the 
development and cultivation of all the physical, intellectual, and moral faculties; and it should'add, 
and many do add, that of religion. 

"The primary necessity of the useful citizen and successful man is strong, vigorous, robust 
health. There is no difference of opinion on this point among thoughtful men. The sickly man is 
not an efficient producer, agent, or actor of any kind. He is a cripple and a burden upon' society 
in proportion to iiis lack of vigor and energy. It is not important to state whether the person can 
answer a hundred or ten thousand questions in geography, grammar, botany, natural histor}-, or the 
Latin language ; but in time of either peace or war his value to the State is dependent upon the 
e.vtent of his physical and mental force, directed by a knowledge of facts and principles which our 
schools almost wholly ignore. To obtain an elementary education in our city schools requires twelve 



38 KORTHWHST BIOGRAPHY. 

years of close, laborious study. Th.e whole force and machinery of the schools is directed toward the 
most effective devices and methods for cramming and crowding a multitude of things into the memory 
of the children. Each scholar is compelled to pursue from seven to ten studies. From two and one- 
half to three and three-fourths hours are consumed each day in recitations. They are confined in the 
schoolroom four and one-half hours per day. 'faking our of this the tiine consumed in the recitations, 
it leaves for the time to devote to stud\- in the schoolroom from one to two hours; or, running a 
general average, it takes o\er three hours per day to get through the recitations, and they have, say, 
one and one-half hours to devote to study. These recitations are from fifteen to tiiiriy minutes in 
length, so that they are tinning rapidly from one subject to anotlier during the whole day. 

"Such long-continuetl attention under most severe and rigid rules, wliich compel close attention, 
becomes irksome, overtaxes their nerve power, and injures them. Now when we further consider 
that so mucli time is consumed in the recitations, and there are so many of them that it leaves but a 
little over ten minutes per day to devote to studying each lesson, we readily see that this is insufficient 
time for learning them; for we must bear in mind that this is the high-pressure sxsteni, and each 
scholar is impelled by all the force of expedients as merciless as cold steel to keep his place. This 
requires more time to study out of school hours than are allowed within ; so that it is probably safe 
to say that each scholar is ta.xed with giving seven hours' close attention to books each day. Those 
who have the best memories and readiest tongues are accounted the ablest scholars. .Vnd they can 
commit a greater variety of facts, names, and dates to memory in a given time than those who have 
a slower memory, but very likely a better mind. Now when the high pressure is applied to all of 
them, and the quick memories are more than buried, the others are taxed beyond the limit of safety; 
add to this the fact of very defective healing and ventilation, as well as bad lighting to hurt the 
eyesight, and it makes a very discouraging view to people having children to educate, or who have 
any care for the welfare of society. 

" The effect of this educational machinery upon the children, we claim, is. That it reduces to a 
considerable extent the physical system, not necessarily to produce disease or great apparent 
weakness, though it very often does this or more. It reduces their a\ailable force and energy, and 
lessens their chance of success and usefulness. It also reduces their natural independence and 
originality, and wears away any marked aptitude or genius which they might possess. 

" These results are caused by the length of time required each day for so many years of study ; 
by the great number of subjects taught ; by the universal selection of subjects ; by the application 
of one great rigid system to all sorts, kinds, and qualities of dispositions; by enclosing them in a 
machine that allows no independent action, and regards each scholar as a portion of the wheel- 
work that must turn in its groove regularly and without variation ; by the bad heating, ventilating, 
and lighting of schoolhouses. 

"Children are but young, unmatured men and women. The limit of their capacity to bear 
strain of this kind without injury is easily reached. Business men, whose minds are certainly able 
to bear more than those of children, are constantly admonished of the danger of mental destruction, 
and can bear safely but little, if any, more hours' close thinking than is required by our public-school 
management of the children. One of tiie most unpromising features of the case is that those who 
are intrusted with the management of the schools deny the existence of any hardships or methods 
which are injurious. But the injury will result just the same as though they did not deny it, and 
their inability to appreliend it only insures its more certain effects and greater permanence. 

" Professor Huxley in the Pi^puhxr Science Monthly says : 'The educational abomination of desola- 
tion of the present day is the stimulation of young people to work at high pressure by incessant com- 
petitive examinations. Some wise man (who probably was not an early riser) has said of early risers in 




6£>-^. 




WILLIAM DREW WASHBURN. 39 

general that they are conceited all the forenoon and stupid all the afternoon. Now, whether this is 
true of early risers, in the common acceptance of the term, or not, I will not pretend to say; but it 
is too often true of the unhappy children who are forced to rise too early in their classes. They are 
conceited all the forenoon of life and stupid all the afternoon. The' vigor and freshness, which 
should have been stored up for the purposes of the hard struggle for existence in practical life, have 
been washed out of them by precocious mental debauchery, by book-gluttonv and lesson-bibbing. 
Tiieir faculties are worn out by the strain upon their callow brains, and thuv are demoralized b^y 
worthless, childish triumphs before the real work of life begins. I have no compassion for sloth, but 
youth has more need for intellectual rest than age; and the cheerfulness, the tenacity of purpose' and 
tiie power of work which make many a successful man what he is, must often be placed to the credit, 
not to his hours of industry, but to that of his hours of idleness in boyhood.' Those who are not 
satisfied that our school system is seriously and criminally defective in the points condemne<l in this 
paper, as well as some others not here considered, owe it to those whose lives are affected by it to 
at least investigate it." 



WILLIAM DREW WASHBURN. 

THE subject of this sketcli was born on the fourteenth day of January, 1831, in the town 
of Livermore, Androscoggin County, Maine, —the luckiest town, we imagine, in the 
whole State in which to be born, for we know of no other of its size which has produced 
as many noble men and fair women. The tutelar deity of this spot, whoever he was or is, 
seems to have been especially gracious to his people in protecting their welfare, and seeing 
them equipped in the best elements of manhood and womanhood. The ancestors of the 
Livermore community appear generally to bear looking up ; and those from whom the well- 
known "Washburn Family" sprang unquestionably rank first. Seven brothers, with 
sisters between, were reared at the humble hearthstone of this family; and, while they all 
conferred credit upon their birthplace, several of them added honors to the State and the 
nation. Andrew Carnegie, in his " Triumphant Democracy," sums up the family as follows : 
" Their career is typically American. The Washburns are a family indeed, seven sons, and 
all of them men of mark. Several have distinguished themselves so greatly as to become 
a part of their country's history. The family record includes a secretary of State, two gov- 
ernors, four members of Congress, a m.ajor-general in the army, and another scconcf in 
command in the navy. Two served as foreign ministers, two as State legislators, and one 
as surveyor-general. As all these services were performed during the Civil War, there 
were Washburns in nearly every department of State, laboring in camp and council for the 
Republic, at the sacrifice of great personal interests." It maybe added that three of the 
brothers were in Congress at the same time, and from three different States, —a family 
compliment that never happened before, and is not likely ever to occur again. The family 
possessed universal gifts, and an ample supply of them. Talents in such magnitude and 
number are rarely massed in so narrow a space. Greatness seldom lays more than one egg 
in the same nest; seldom hatches more, at least. 



40 NORTHWEST TIOCRArilY. 

The brightest stars one sees in the heavens, in most instances, stand out singly, and 
seem quite lonely in their separateness. So, in the liistoric skies, persons of much brilliancy 
are set at considerable distances apart from one anotiier. .Moses. Homer, An^-elo, Luther, 
Washington, with other lesser lights, are favored with so much isolation that they are not 
obliged to divide their rays in the spectator's vision with competing orbs. It is easy to 
distinguish them and point them out. Occasionally a cluster of greatnesses rises, like the 
Pleiades, on the world. This was the ca.se, for instance, in the Adams family, the Heecher 
family, and the Washburn family. Hut for the untimely death of two of its members, — 
lidward and Charles, — the Emerson family might possibly have been counted in this excep- 
tional list. There was not enough material for more such massive brows in the house where 
Daniel Webster was born ; Washington was not repeated under his parents' roof; Lincoln 
was not paralleled in his Kentucky nor Indiana home ; Ulysses Grant carried away nearly 
all the honors of the household. England's Pantheon, Westminster .Abbey, except in the 
cases of the Cannings and Macaulays, has not dared to receive a second handful of dust 
from over the same threshold. 

It has been said that Dr. Lyman Beecher was the father of more brains than any other 
American. This may and may not havebeen true, but we venture to affirm that the hardy 
yeoman of Livermore, Israel Washburn, could, without blushing, have weighed descendants' 
heads with the great New-England divine. 

It is unnecessary here to hazard the attempt to decide which in the Washburn constel- 
lation outshone all the others, nor need we indulge in the extravagant claim that the 
brightest is not excelled in our American gala.xy. It is enough to say, what most people 
will readily concede, that it was an extraordinary family ; that no other in our land has fur- 
nished so many occupants for high places, or so many who filled these positions with such 
equal success. 

William Drew Washburn, or W. D. Washburn, as he more generally writes his name, 
was the youngest of Israel's children. His mother, before her marriage, was Martha Ben- 
jamin ; and Martha Washburn^ it is well tn remember, was as much the mother of this 
remarkable collection of souls as Israel was the father. It is no disparagement to his evi- 
dent virtues to believe that the best and most effective moulding power upon the children's 
lives was hers. 

" A creature not too bright or good 
For human nature's daily food." 

She seems also to have been almost, — 

" A perfect woman, nobly planned 
To warn, to comfort, and command." 

They were both persons of sound bodies and strong minds. He was a straightforward, 
upright man, bounteously endowed with good common sense, alive to all that was going on 
in the world around him, a voracious reader of whatever news the universal stage-coach 
brought, at wide intervals, to tiiis village hidden far off among the hills. He was an intel- 
ligent talker ; and what he knew of State and national affairs, his bovs learned. We are 



WILLIAM DREW WASHBURW 4, 

safe, therefore, in supposing that in dispensing his earnest opinions to them, and in discuss- 
nig the contents of the weekly newspaper, he sowed their minds thick with patriotic 
impulses, and probably with the seeds of political ambition. She was a practical house- 
keeper, industrious, frugal, sagacious, stimulating to the children's consciences, if not to 
their intellects, sincerely religious withal, and hence gave those under her precious charge 
an unalterable bent toward pure and lofty emis. 

The times and circumstances compelled an economy we can scarcely conceive of in our 
plentiful days, but the family was well cared for and wisely trained. 

To go farther back, Israel's father and Martha's father, Samuel Benjamin, both served 
in the Revolutionary War, — the latter through the entire war, being present with Wash- 
ington at the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, at Yorktown ; the former was in the Continen- 
tal Army at the evacuation of New York. Israel was a native of Raynham, Massachusetts. 
He emigrated to Livermore when quite a youth ; and taught school there for several winters. 
School-teaching was then, and since, the first round, an important round, at least, in the 
ladder for ambitious young men. John Washburn, at the beginning of the American line 
of Washburns, came, it has been ascertained, in the Mayjiourr ; and, coming in this 
way, it is easy to comprehend what influences sent him, and what he came for. lie was 
probably a Puritan. So a bit of the love for independence and liberty was brought over in 
drops of blood to America, and, trickling down through meandering channels into the veins 
of the young man at Raynham, it was carried to Livermore, where it deepened and spread 
through a family which became historic for the representation and advocacy of human 
rights. And here another figure, Tennyson's, comes to mind, — 

"The single note from tiiat deep chord which Hampden smote 
Will vibrate to the doom." 

W. D. Washburn has lived a life of striking self-e.xertion, and yet he cannot be consid- 
ered, in the ordinary sense, a self-made man ; that is, he does not, in this respect, belong in 
the class with such men as Horace Greeley and Abraham Lincoln. His early advantages, 
though painfully limited compared with the present, with what especially he has been able 
to give his own children, were superior, doubtless, to those of most young men in Andros- 
coggin County, to those of most young men anywhere living so far from the great centres 
of education. He began his education — outside of home, where almost everybody's be"-an, 
and begins — at the district school, of course. One of his teachers was Timothy Howe, sub- 
sequently United-States senator from Wisconsin, and later postmaster-general ; another 
was Leonard Swett, now a prominent lawyer in Chicago. After he was twelve years of ao-e 
his school months were confined to the winter : his summers were required at the farm, 
which his father owned and lived upon. For three or four autumns he was allowed the 
privileges of what was called a " High School " in the village. At fourteen he was sent 
away for a few weeks to a school in Gorham, Maine ; ne.xt, to a school in Paris, in the same 
State. Finally, at Farmington, Maine, he prepared for college. In this he was wonderfully 
favored, and in this, too, the wisdom of his parents was shown. How abundantlv he 
rewarded them for this piece of foresight and generosity, by giving back to them, even 



42 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

before they left this world, the promise, already half realized, of a life of wide usefulness, a 
life crowned with rich accomplishments, and which, without a college experience, if not 
wholly unattainable, would have been, it is presumed, twofold harder to achieve. 

Mr. Washburn entered Bowdoin College in the fall of 1850, where he was placed under 
the charge of President Dr. Leonard Woods. It is sufficient to say of this institution that 
it has graduated such men as Henry W. Longfellow, Nathaniel Hawthorne, William Pitt 
Fessenden, Franklin Pierce, Sargent S. Prentiss, and John P. Hale. 

From college Mr. Washburn went into a law ofifice, for reading, with his brother 
Israel, at one time governor of the State, at another a representative in Congress. From 
here he went into the office of Hon. John A. Peters, in Bangor, now chief justice of the 
Supreme Court of the State of Maine. 

During the winter of 1856-7, Mr. Washburn determined to go West. He con.sidered 
the matter thoroughly ; studied the maps carefully ; sought all possible information on the 
subject, and decided finally, and before leaving home, to settle at St. Anthony's Falls. How 
far away these falls seemed then ! He appeared to discern with a prophet's vision, even at 
that distance, the remarkable destiny of this beautiful locality. He reached Minneapolis on 
the first day of May, 1857. He naturally opened a law office, though he pursued his profes- 
sion but two years. In the fall of 1857 he was elected agent of the Minneapolis Mill Com- 
pany, which began near this date improving the falls. He served in this capacity ten years, 
more or less, becoming a stockholder and director in the company, which he still is. The 
results of law practice proving too slow for his rapid purposes, he drifted, like most of his 
Maine confreres, into the more lucrative business of lumbering, which he vet continues, and 
to which he has joined a score or two of other interests. He built what was long after 
known as the Lincoln Sawmill, on the falls; in 1872 he erected what was then, if not now, 
the completest sawmill in the West, at Anoka, Minnesota. He is now, and has been for 
years, extensively engaged in manufacturing flour at the falls, being a member of what was 
the firm of Washburii, Crosby & Co., now styled the firm of Washburn, Martin & Co. 

The city of Minneapolis has, within recent years particularly, experienced a phenom- 
enal growth ; from the rude, straggling village which Mr. Washburn first found here, it has 
swelled to a magnificent town of two hundred thousand inhabitants ; with correspondingly 
advanced schools, churches, streets, stores, warehouses, and manufactories. The public- 
spirited citizens to whom, chiefly, without reflecting in the least on the community at large, 
must be ascribed the cause of this incredible prosperity, can be nearly all counted on one's 
two hands, and among these none stands before W. D. Washburn. In season and out of 
season, in bright days and in dark days, he has worked valiantly for the town and its inter- 
ests, devoting his thoughts, his strength, his money, to its united welfare, never for a 
moment losing faith in the rosy possibilities he early predicted for it and saw opening before 
it ; turning away his ear from disappointed croakers ; rushing in to fill the gap of deserting 
capital, and putting his herculean shoulders to the reluctant wheel of every new improvement. 
With most of the things which shed especial power and glory on the place his name is pleas- 
antly associated. Annihilate his influence here for the last twenty-five years, and a fearful 
vacuum would appear. And it should be observed that his wakeful energies, his inspiriting 
helpfulness, quickened other men, and set them at work when they would otherwise have 



UlLIJAM DREW U:iSIIBrR.V. 43 

rested with folded hands. He healed other people's faiths by anointing them with his own. 
He was a business Sheridan, who, in times of threatened defeat, dashed on with flying colors 
through broken columns of discouraged volunteers, shouting hope in their ears, and rallying 
them by his own intrepid example to new efforts. The waving of his plume, and the gleam 
of his sword against the opposing ranks in front, brought an army of fighters, who had begun 
to straggle, to his side. If Mr. Washburn and a few of his compeers appeai^ed on the ram- 
parts of the foe the battle was counted gained, though the large battalions of citizens were 
yet far behind. The influence of a competent leader is often amazing. Bonaparte's per- 
sonal presence, so great was the confidence in him, amounted, it was said, to the power of 
forty thousand men ! 

The few citizens in Minnea{x>Iis we have referred to were in themselves the strength of 
a large portion of the population. Mr. Washburn's hand, through its multiplying effects, 
became as many hands as Briaieus had. 

A conspicuous illustration of his aid to the cit_\-, of his connection with an imiwrtaiit 
public work from which the city drew large benefits, was furnished in 1869, when, through 
his inspiration and efforts, largely, the construction of the St. Louis & Minneapolis Railroad 
was begun, and he was made the president of it. Retiring after a while from this responsible 
position, and favorably disposing of his interest in the road, he almost immediately set his 
inventive and restless mind at the gigantic task, more formidable and more important than 
any he had before dreamed of undertaking, of devising ways and means for building a rail- 
road from Minneapolis and St. Paul, through what was little better than a continuous wil- 
derness, to tide water, by way of Sault Ste. Marie. He submitted iiis ideas relating to this 
sublime project to the liberal capitalists of Minneapolis in the year 1883. His arguments 
were so forcible, his manner so earnest, he was able to elicit a favorable response, and, form- 
ing a company of powerful coadjutors, he moved forward in a little time to the beginning of 
what we must believe is the grandest achievement of his life. It will exceed the belief of 
most persons to be told that this road was finished to the " Soo," five hundred miles, by the 
first of January, 1888. 

This road, at the crossing of the Sault Ste. Marie River, at the south end of Lake 
Superior, connects with the Canadian Pacific Railway, which traverses every portion of 
Canada, and makes a direct line to New England and New- York City. The "Soo Road," 
as it is commonly called, and which may be justly considered Mr. Washburn's road, and of 
which he is the president, penetrates a vast forest region, and opens up untold quantities 
of forest wealth, pine, hemlock, cedar, and a variety of hard woods. It bridges most of the 
lumber streams of Wisconsin, and many in Michigan, and hence it is expected that it will 
rapidly develop an immense local business. 

But the accomplishment of this mighty enterprise did not put Mr. Washburn's aggres- 
sive mind at ease; nor did it complete his ever-widening estimate of the fast-developing 
business requirements of the twin cities. Still greater railroad facilities, he distinctly saw, 
were demanded. Out of the " Soo Road " was born the necessity for another, extending from 
the Minneapolis end of the first in a northwesterly course. The idea grew in a marvel- 
lously short perioil, and, before the people in its vicinity could realize what was going on, 
into an actual fact ; three himdred miles to Boynton, a point in Dakota, through a section of 



44 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

fertile country between the two lines of tlie ]\Ianitoba road, stretclicd tlic track of the 
Minneapolis & Pacific Railway. The parties interested in the two railroad companies, 
being substantially the same, were finally consolidated into one company. The present 
name of the company is the Minneapolis, St. Paul, & Sault Ste. Marie Railway Company. 
To this system, wiiich had a continuous line of eight hundred miles, the Aberdeen, Bis- 
marck, & Northwestern Railroad was joined. 

p-ew persons are, it is presumed, so ill informed in such matters as to imagine that Mr. 
Washburn carried the burden of cares and an.xietics which all this imposed, without feeling 
his shoulders bend under it ; without his discovering with his own eyes, when he looked in 
the mirror, that the lines in his face were daily growing deeper and the patches of gray in 
his hair larger. The strain upon him was tremendous. The difficulties to be overcome 
some of the time were enormous. The feats of Hercules were hardly greater. But, how- 
ever bowed in spirit he might have been when alone in the quiet of his house, whatever 
clouds may have mantled his brow when only his family could be alarmed by them, in public, 
in his office, in business councils, he wore a brave countenance, and it could be said of him 
as at other times, — 

" A man he seems of cheerful yesterdays 
And oonfideiu to-iiionows." 

That the Nileometer in the stream uf Mr. Washburn's enterprises will ever record a 
higher rise than the completion of this scheme to give Minnesota an independent means of 
trade with the East, and its people a freer, shorter e.xit of travel in that direction, cannot be 
reasonably expected. And yet, judging from the apparently inexhaustible sources of his 
activity, his fixed habits of industry, his love of business adventure, his endless explorations 
into the needs of the city he loves so well and has served so faithfull)', one might with little 
risk predict that he will have yet more projects, and more important ones perhaps, to an- 
nounce to his fellow-citizens. He can, however, well afford to pause here and give himself 
that rela.xation from care for which his overworked constitution pleads, and he has so 
grandly earned. 

In referring briefly to Mr. Washburn's political life, it should be stated first that he was 
elected to the Minnesota State Legislature in 1858 and 1861. By Abraham Lincoln he was 
appointed surveyor-general of the district of Minnesota. This fastened upon him the 
popular title of general, which he was not able to shake off. During the term of this office, 
and in which a large portion of Northern Minnesota was surveyed and brought into market, 
he resided in St. Paul. In 1871 he was again elected to the Minnesota Legislature. Among 
the important measures on which he cast his influence while here was one bringing the 
operation of railroads under the control of the State. In 1878 he was elected to Congress; 
and again in 1880 and 1882, serving si.x years in the Mouse of Representatives. 

Mr. Washburn's deportment in Congress won for him universal respect ; not only in 
the House itself, and in Washington, but among his constituents. He was looked upon as ■ 
one of the most useful and most popular members. He and his family exercised a large 
social iniluence in Washington. His most important speech in the House, and most 
important vote, perhaps, touching national matters, related to the Chinese question, which 



WILLI AM DREW WASHBURK 45 

at that time was profoundly agitating the country; the Pacific coast especially. Although 
we honestly disagreed with him in his stand on this subject we could not but confess that 
his argument was put in excellent English ; that he marshalled his statistics with consum- 
mate skill, so much so that he made, we thought, 

" the worse appear 
The better reason." 

His effort was widely applauded for its perspicuity and logic. The country was pleased, 
if a few were disappointed. 

Mr. Washburn's name has been several times mentioned for governor, and once, at 
least, he narrowly escaped a nomination. 

His political career reflects many honors and no scandal. That his success has at 
times evoked harsh criticisms from his opponents, and left a sting in the heart of some 
aspirant in whose way he seemed to stand, was to have been expected. At the close of the 
battle his most earnest foes have been generally willing and glad to smoke the pipe of 
peace with him. No politician can consistently throw a stone at him. 

In all the walks of life, public and private, Mr. Washburn has been as 

" constant as the Northern star " 

in his integrity, and has made a character as free of stains as any man we know who has 
rubbed against the world as long and as hard as he has. Of all kinds of meannesses he is, 
as Johnson would have said, "a good hater." He despises shams, whether they appear in 
human actions or in rotten timbers. Doing his best, he looks for the best. His severest 
intolerance is reserved for dishonesty. If he builds a house or mill or barn or wood-cart, he 
is not content to have it a mediocre thing. A gardener or a coachman who does not wear 
a superlative adjective fails to please him. Indeed, it has been hinted that his demands for 
the highest excellence in everything which concerns him, whether it be a sermon or a loaf 
of bread, exceed the supply in this scanty world of ours — at least, that they are somewhat 
too expensive for ordinaiy mortals. Nevertheless he possesses, and to an extraordinary 
degree, this trait of character ; and by it he fixes a high tariff on his exertions and his 
circumstances that may bring him sufficient revenue for carrying on a government of very 
elevated tastes. 

Mr. Washburn does not appear to be particularly anxious for increased political honors, 
but shows indications rather that he desires to be relieved of the weight which these honors 
inevitably cost. His interest in national affairs, however, has not apparently been in the 
slightest degree lessened ; though off duty, he is not asleep. His discussions of political 
questions are as frequent and as earnest as ever, and he watches with as keen an eye the 
horizon of events at Washington, the rising and setting of State diplomacies. It would 
certainly seem a misfortune, for the country's sake, at least, if a statesman of such ripe 
experience and of such comprehensive knowledge should be allowed to withdraw himself 
from public life. 

Mr. Washburn has always been, and continues to be, a growing man. He had in his 



46 KORTJIWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

voiith none of the dangerous signs of piecociousness. He has not attained his present 
height by a " sudden bound." He has not attempted 

" to break the legs of Time," 

and so outrun it. If for a considerable period lie were in what Edmund Burke said all 
Americans were in in his day, " the gristle," he has since " hardened into the bone of man- 
hood," and may well count jirogress with many who shot by him at the start, or for years 
walked in front of him. For a long time he stood so completely in the shadow of his more 
famous if not more intellectual brothers that his individual merits were under-counted. 
His eulogy was most often comprised in the remark that lie belonged to the " Washburn 
family ;" and, while he was not unworthy to be the brother of his brothers, their greatness 
naturally shrivelled his. He has at last built a reputation of his own, and one which neither 
he nor his friends need wish to rebuild. 

On the 19th of April, 1859, Mr. Washburn was married to Miss Lizzie Muzz\', a lovely, 
cultivated lady, daughter of Hon. Franklin Muzzy, a prominent man in Maine, a strong 
Republican, and on two or three occasions president of the State Senate. Mrs. Washburn 
has many social attractions, and is fond of entertaining, but seems never so happy as when 
surrounded bv her large family of children and in superintending the affairs of the mansion. 
Mr. Washburn is devotedly fond of his sons and daughters, the eldest of whom have 
recently graduated, one from Vale, and one from a school in Philadelphia or near there. 
Death has twice broken the domestic circle, once taking an infant, and once a promising 
lad, — the particular hope and joy of the home, — sixteen years of age ; he was drowned one 
summer, while bathing at Old Orchard Beach. 

Mr. Washburn's residence is a striking proof of what we have said of his e.Kalted 
tastes. It is the finest, richest, most elaborate in finish, most imposing in appearance, of 
any house in the West. It is hardly excelled indeed in the country anywhere. It stands 
on one of the most elevated points in the city, rises in lofty and harmonious proportions out 
of spacious grounds, exquisitely arranged, and ornamented with sloping lawns, groups of 
trees, \istas, walks, a splendid conservatory, and beds of flowers. It is one of the sights 
of the town ; and for strangers visiting the town no more amazing illustration of the 
advanced wealth and wonders of Minneapolis can be pointed out than this magnificent 
structure affords. It is a monument to which the whole community points with a justifiable 
l^leasure and pride. No dream of the owner can be conceived of as transcending the reali- 
ties of this perfect home. Mere may he and his long live to enjoy to the full the treasures 
they have piled around them in such countless profusion. 

In personal appearance Mr. Washburn may be considered a very elegant gentleman. 
Neat and fashionable in his attire, symmetrical in form, inclining to slimness, erect, of more 
than medium height, clear-cut features, and bright, earnest eyes, graceful in movement, 
correct in speech, he impresses one even at first as a person who has had always the best 
surroundings. A really handsome man we do not often meet in our walks, but he suggests 
a handsome man at least. He is dignified in his manner, and is not indifferent to style in 
whatever pertains to him. But he has tender feelings. Cowper's line will apply to him : 

" Broadcloth without, and a warm heart within." 



WILLIAM DREW WASHBURN. aj 

If on any occasion he shows abruptness of language and is slightly overbearing, 
difficult to be approached, by strangers especially, it is owing generally and chiefly to the 
thorns of business he feels at the moment pricking him, or to want of time to be himself. 
Hurry sometimes trips politeness. 

Mr. Washburn's ability to acquire wealth is equalled by his charitable use of it. He 
would be pained perhaps if we should attempt to specify his charities here. His hand is 
friendly to all reasonable subscription papers ; and he never pushes away a righteous contri- 
bution box. We do not mean to say that he never refuses appeals to his pocket. The 
purse of Croesus would soon be empty if every hand were free to unloose its strings. But 
Mr. Washburn has expended in gifts, in one way and another within a few years, what most 
of us would deem a fortune. -Something more and better than " crumbs " fall from his 
table for the starving and needy. He gives cheerfully, and often with a startling liberality. 

The Church of the Redeemer, — Universalist, — of which he has been a member and trus- 
tee for a quarter of a century, and of whose Sabbath school he was a faithful superintendent 
for four years, has plenty of reason for grateful remembrance of his generosity in its behalf. 
If a place of worship were to be built, a debt to be raised, or a deficient treasury to be 
filled, or a pastor's lean purse to be fattened, or a poor widow's larder to be replenished, or 
a new mission to be started, or any other of the thou.sand and one money necessities 
happened in the society, he was always expected to either head the list of givers or to equal 
the largest sum that preceded him. 

Mr. Washburn is modest and sparing in his religious professions, but deep-rooted in his 
religious convictions. His father and mother were earnest Universalists, and he inherited 
their faith. To this he has been as loyal as to the other parental examples. His creed is 
pretty well summed up in the words, " Fatherhood of God " and " Brotherhood of Man." 
The broad spirit he shows elsewhere blossoms in his thoughts on spiritual matters. His 
daily prayer must be, in substance, that all men may one day be good pure Republicans in 
this world and saints in the ne.xt. " Freedom for all " and " heaven for all " are his mottoes. 
He is punctual in his attendance at church ; absence from his pew is in nearly all cases a 
silent advertisement that he is indisposed or out of the city. His family is usually in the 
long pew with him. His pastor has no more careful or appreciative listener; no safer, 
wiser counsellor than he. His Sabbaths appear to be breathing pauses in his hot march of 
business ; the oasis where, escaping from the desert sands of care, he may bathe his tired 
spirit in a refreshing stream ; an altar to which all that is best in riches, in fame, in human 
achievement, is to be brought for final consecration and use. 

Since the abo\-e was written, W. D. Washburn has been elected from Minnesota to the 
United-States Senate for six years. 



46 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

\ 
I 

DORILUS MORRISON. 

OXE of the most strongly marked features of the American people is their indomitable 
spirit of industry, standing out prominent and distinct in every period of national 
existence. The vigorous growth of the Northwest has been mainly the result of the free ' 

imlustrial energy of individuals ; and it has been contingent upon the number of hands and ^ 

minds from time to time actively employed within it, whether as cultivators of the soil, ' 

producers of articles of utility, contrivers of tools and machines, writers of books, or 
creators of works of art. The career of industry which the Northwest has pursued has 
also proved its best education. As steady application to work is the healtliiest training for 
every individual, so is it the best discipline of a State. Honorable industry alwa}-s travels 
the same road with enjoyment and duty ; and progress is altogether impossible without it. 
Labor is the best test of the energies of men, and furnishes an admirable training for 
practical wisdom. Nor is a life of manual employment incompatible with high mental 
culture. 

Hon. Dorilus Morrison, the subject of this sketch, than whom none knew better the 
strength and the weakness belonging to the lot of labor, has shown as the result of his early 
experience that w-ork, even the hardest, is full of materials for self-improvement. His 
successful business career in life reveals the fact that honest labor is the best of teachers, 
ami that the school of toil is the noblest of schools : that it is a school in which the ability 
of being useful is imjiartcd, the spirit of independence learned, and the habit of jiersevering 
effort acquired. 

Closely connected with every step in the development of the Northwest, and especially 
of the State of Minnesota, stands the name of Dorilus Morrison, a gentleman whose long 
experience in business affairs, intuitive knowledge of men, rare executive abilities, and 
pleasant social qualities, have won for him the highest respect and confidence of his fellow- 
citizens. 

The subject of this sketch was born in Livermore, County of Oxford, Maine, December 
27, 1 8 14. The family to which Mr. Morrison belongs is of Scotch origin. His paternal 
parent, Samuel Morrison, was born I\Iay 28, 1788, and died .\ugust, 1867. His maternal 
parent, lu'c Betsey Benjamin, was born December 23, 1790, and died December, i860. His 
paternal ancestors were among the early settlers of Maine, partaking of all the hardships of 
pioneer life in the development of a new country. His ancestry furnishes a good illustra- 
tion of the influence which home-life exerts so strongly in New England. 

The early da}s of Dorilus ^lorrison were chief!)' given to the acquisition of the 
elements of knowledge. The town school enabled him to acquire a preliminary education, 
which laid the foundation of subsequent scholarly attainments. " Regular education," says 
Lord Jeffrey, "is unfavorable to vigor or originality of understanding." Like civilization, 
it makes society more intelligent and agreeable ; but it levels the distinctions of nature. 

Mr. Morrison received no regular education, although such an education was among the 




^A\ 



A\A^, 



DO RHUS MORRISON. 4O 

cherished purposes of his early years. But, at that time, a train of events marked out a 
new channel for his activity. 

This turn of events, perhaps, might be regarded by some as particularly fortunate. 

When John Ouincy Adams, in his old age, was a member of Congress, a fellow-represen- 
tative, distinguished more than any other member for his practical suggestions; expressed his 
deep regrets that he did not have the benefits of a college education. Mr. Adams quickly 
replied, "You may thank God that you did not. There would have been an even chance if 
you had taken the degrees of a college, that j'ou would not be the practical man tliat you 
iioiv are." The mind of a man who has escaped this training will at least have fair play. 
Whatever other errors he may fall into, he will be safe at least from college infatuations. 
]\Ir. Morrison is a gentleman of large business qualifications. He is quick to perceive and 
sure to comprehend the meaning of things, however they may be involved. Although a 
resident of Minneapolis, and a citizen of Minnesota, to his efforts and enterprise is due, in 
a great measure, the rapid development of the resources of the Northwest. 

In pointing out and estimating character, the elements of strength whicli are brought 
together and centre in a single individual are apt to be forgotten. A remarkable man is 
generally credited with many things which are common to all, simply because his good 
judgment and knowledge employ the countless agencies to be found in nature and in the 
circumstances of life. 

As a citizen, Mr. Morrison is an example to be studied and commended. In the midst 
of his business engagements he has not lost sight of the high duties of citizenship. Me 
understands the constitution and laws of his country, and the duties of republican institu- 
tion;;, and the sources of their life and strength. Formerly he was an Old-Line Whig ; 
but at this time his political sentiments are in sympathy with the Republican partv. His 
religious preference is in fellowship with the Universalist denomination. 

In 1840 Mr. Morrison was united in matrimony to H. K. Whitmorc, an estimable and 
worthy lady of Livermore, Oxford County, Maine. Some years subsequent to the death of 
this most exemplary and excellent wife and mother, Mr. Morrison formed a second matrimo- 
nial alliance with a lady of superior culture and high intellectual endowments, whose refined 
taste gives a charm to home-life, and whose rare accomplishments add lustre to the palatial 
mansion over which she gracefully presides. 

In studying the character and interesting career of Dorilus Morrison, we are first led 
to note his active and comprehensive mind. His record is a remarkable one for its simplicity, 
its usefulness, its success. What he was in youth has been briefly stated. What he has 
been in his maturer years, his unceasing activity will demonstrate. As a husband and 
father few men were ever more highly prized. 



50 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 



JOHN STOUGHTENBURGH PRINCE. 

THE subject of this sketch, born at Cincinnati, Ohio, on Monday, May 7, 1821, is a 
descendant of Rev. John Prince, rector of East Sheffield, Berkshire, England, and is 
the eighth John Prince in regular succession from this progenitor. Mis jiarents were Joseph 
and Charlotte (Osborn) Prince, who resided at Cincinnati. The fourth John Prince, the 
great-great-grandfather, was born in Barnstable, England, in 1677, and died at Long 
Island, New York, in 1765. The fifth John Prince was born at Barnstable, England, on the 
loth of August, 1716, and died in Boston, Massachusetts, on the 23d of July, 1786. The 
grandfather of the present John S. Prince was born in Boston on the 22d of July, 175 1. 
His father was a native of the same city, and died at Mendon, Massachusetts, on the 24th 
of November, 1828. 

The opportunities afforded for securing an education were e.xtremely limited. Wlien 
ten vears of age John went to Mendon, and spent a year or more with his grandparents, 
where he attended school, and this practically closed his school days. He then returned 
to Cincinnati, and at once commenced his struggle with the world, his first employment 
being in a shoe-store, at two dollars per week. Shortly afterwards he entered a commission- 
house, where he exhibited a business capacity that has been one of his marked character- 
istics through life. While mastering the details of trade, he supplied himself with text- 
books, and spent his leisure hours in acquiring a good practical education. 

In 1840 Mr. Prince entered the service of the American Fur Company at Evansville, 
Indiana ; and when, two years later, the company suspended operations, he engaged with 
Pierre Chouteau, jun., & Co., who assumed the business, he becoming the purchasing agent 
of the company for the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan, and the Territory of 
Wisconsin. In the interest of his employers he located at St. Paul in 1854, his principal 
business at first being the care of the property interests of Chouteau & Co. at St. Paul. 

Mr. Prince, in addition to his duties as agent of Chouteau & Co., at once took an active 
part in business, and was soon recognized as one of the shrewdest and most successful of 
the many enterprising men who laid broad and deep the foundations of the future great city 
of St. Paul. He established and operated a sawmill for fifteen years. He also dealt 
largely in real estate; and as his wealth accumulated he exhibited foresight and public 
spirit in the erection of many business-houses and dwellings. Of public enterprises of a 
benevolent character he has always been a liberal supporter ; and he has been widely known 
as o-enerous and large-hearted in all good works tending to aid and encourage the distressed 
and unfortunate in the community in which he lives, as well as those outside, even to the 
poor and oppressed in other lands. 

As the city of St. Paul advanced in wealth and development, Mr. Prince was always 
to be found in the foreground. He was one of the Spartan band of capitalists who incor- 
porated, built, and for years maintained, the St. Paul & Sioux City Railroad, until it 
became one of the strongest and most beneficent of corporations. He was one of the 





"?t^ 




QOyiej^S) 



JOHN STOUGHTEXBURGH PRINCE. 51 

incorporators of the St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company, and still holds his inter- 
est in this institution, which maintains its place among the strongest and safest insurance 
companies in the country. 

When the Savings Bank of St. Paul was organized, in 1S67, he became its cashier, and, 
shortly afterwards, its president, — a position he has maintained until the present time. It 
is carefully managed according to the strictest rules of integrity and economy, and it pos- 
sesses the unbounded confidence of the community, of whose business enterprises it has 
been so useful a member. 

On May 2, 1844, Mr. Prince was married, at Evansville, Indiana, to Miss Emma L. 
Finck. They have had twelve children, of whom seven are living. 

Mr. Prince and his family are devout aiid consistent members of the Catholic Church. 

In politics Mr. Prince has always been a Democrat, but a Democrat of the sturdy Jef- 
fersonian type, — honest, upright, independent, — above the petty machinations and corrupt- 
ing influences that mark political contests in large cities ; and all the honors that have been 
heaped upon him by his fcilow-citizens have been a cordial and hearty tribute to his high 
character, honesty of purpose, and independence of the improper influences that are thought 
by less scrupulous men to be necessary to be courted at the polls on election-day. 

Mr. Prince was a member of th^e constitutional convention of 1S57, which draughted the 
constitution under which Minnesota entered the Union. Upon the organization of the first 
State government, in May, 1858, Mr. Prince was one of the military family of Gov. II. H. 
Sibley, being one of the aids of the governor, with the rank of colonel. That title was duly 
earned ; and the name of Colonel John S. Prince has been as familiar as household words 
to every person in St. Paul for nearlv a third of a century. He was mayor of St. Paul in 
1S60, 1861, 1862, 1865, and 1S66, being elected the last time without opposition. He has had 
a great deal to do with shaping municipal regulations, having for one year been president of 
the commission of assessments, and for three years president of the board of public works. 

Colonel John S. Prince has ever occupied an enviable position in the community of 
which he has been a resident for so large a part of his life. Socially, he and his cultured 
and estimable family have been the peers of the most refined in society at home and abroad. 
Personally he is and always has been a man of much influence, which is the natural out- 
growth of a character that, though it has been turned inside out before his fellow-citizens, 
has never been found tainted with a flaw. Another reason for his popularity is to be found 
in the devotion he has shown to the interests of the city of St. Paul, for whose welfare he 
has sacrificed more largely of his time and financial resources than most men are aware. 
Colonel Prince is noble in his traits, refined in his tastes, broad and liberal in his views, 
modest and unassuming in his relations with the world, but with a heartiness of manner 
and a magnetism of good cheer that have endeared him to his friends, as they have made him 
the idol of his home. This brief sketch of Colonel Prince is a slight tribute of one of the 
least of his ten thousand friends ; of one who has known him well for nearly thirty years, 
^and who can bear willing testimony to that excellence of character which has made Colonel 
John S. Prince a model among men. 



52 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN NELSON. 

"TTEAVEN helps those who help themselves" is a common and trite saying, embodying 
n in a small compass the results of vast human experience. Whatever is done for men 
or classes, to a certain extent, takes away the stimulus and necessity of doing for themselves ; 
and where men are subjected to over-guichmce and over-government, the inevitable tendency 
is to render them comparatively helpless. The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine 
growth in the individual, and constitutes the true source of the vigor and strength of 
manhood. 

The life and career of the subject of this sketch are a happy illustration of the foregoing 
observations. Born and reared amid the most adverse surroundings, his indomitable will 
and energetic action, combined with sterling integrity of character, have placed him in the 
first rank as a business man in the Northwest. 

Benjamin Franklin Nelson is a native of Kentucky, and was born May 4, 1S43. His 
father, William Nelson, was born 1783, and his mother, nee Emeline Benson, 1808. V>oX\\ 
parents were natives of Somerset Count}-, i\Iar\ land. 

The early days of Benjamin F. Nelson were given mostly to industry, with such brief 
opportunity of educational advantages as an irregular attendance at the common school 
afforded. In his early youth, owing to the infirm health of his aged father, the entire 
support of the family, consisting of some half-dozen members, devolved on him. At the age 
of seventeen, two years before the late war, he entered into a copartnership — in the lumber 
business. The first year the enterprise was a success, but the war rendered the second 
year's efforts a disaster. He subsequently, in connection with his brother, rented a large 
farm ; but after one season he transferred the entire interest to his brother, who, in 
consideration, assumed the maintenance of the family. 

Circumstances often control men as inexorably as conscience. Many a Confederate 
would have been a Radical if he had lived in the North, just as many a Radical would have 
been a Confederate if he had lived in the South. Nothing is more remarkable in history 
than the fact that states and statesmen often undergo entire revulsions of political 
sentiment and conviction. To doubt the sincerity of these changes is to question the 
justice of every sort of conversion. The free-trade speech of Daniel Webster in 1824, able 
as it was, was not a particle more conscientious than Vvs, protection argument in Philadelphia, 
i'Mcnty-two years later. Calhoun became a free-trader after having made some of the 
strongest arguments {qx protection. Consistency is often a species of moral cowardice. The 
brave spirits are those who live up to the light of their understanding, and welcome the 
truth as they see it, and fight it out. As none are perfect in this life, so all should aspire 
to be perfect in the virtue of toleration. 

Acting upon the broad principle of truth and right as he understood it, 3-oung Nelson 
in 1862 enlisted in Company C, Second Kentucky Battalion, and went immediately into 
active service imder Kirby Smith. To go into the details of his war record, and to narrate 




J?/ iyY^t/M) L 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN NELSON. 53 

all the thrillingly interesting incidents, "by field and flood," in which it abounds, would 
require a volume. Nothing more, therefore, will be attempted than a brief summary of his 
military career. 

His firs-t military experience as a young recruit consisted in chasing Bueil through 
Kentucky, nearly to the Oliio River. Buell in return drove Kirby Smith out of Kentucky, 
notwithstanding the Confederate general brought into action all the forces under his 
command, regardless of military drill or martial discipline. Retreating into Tennessee, his 
Kentucky battalion went into winter-quarters, until the spring of 1863, when under the 
command of General Humphrey Marshall he again entered Kentucky, where, after little 
fighting, with wearisome marching, his regiment was ordered to Dalton, Georgia, and 
assigned to General Forrest. Me participated in the battle of Chickamauga, and subse- 
quently accompanied Wheeler on his raids round Rosecrans's army in the battles of 
McMinnvillc and Shclbyville ; recrossing the Tennessee River into Alabama, then back 
again to Dalton. He was a participant in the engagement when Lookout Mountain was 
taken by Hooker on the 24th November. In 1864 he was transferred to General John 
Morgan, accompanying him on his raids into Kentucky ; participating in the battles of Mount 
Sterling and Lexington, Kentucky, and also in the battle of Greenville, Tennessee, in which 
engagement General Morgan was killed. Subsequently, with five of his comrades-in-arms, 
he was despatched on a recruiting expedition into Kentucky. Having secured a few recruits 
on the Ohio River, and being some one hundred and fifty miles within the enemy's lines, in 
attempting to return he was captured and taken to Lexington, where he and his companions 
were rigidly confined, not knowing whether they would be treated as prisoners of war or as 
spies. After some days of painful suspense two of his unfortunate recruits were exe- 
cuted, while the others were taken to Camp Douglas, where he remained till March, 1865, 
when he was sent to Richmond, where at the close of tlie war he was honorably paroled. 
After a brief visit to his former home in Lewis County, Kentucky, Mr. Nelson became 
a resident of Minneapolis. At the beginning of his business career in this locality, he 
availed himself of all honorable means to secure a livelihood. For a short time he was 
engaged in rafting lumber, afterwards was employed in a shingle mill until 1867, at which 
time he assumed control of the Butler mill, sawing by the thousand until 1S72. He then 
became a partner , of W. C. Stetson. They built the Pacific planing mill, also the St. Louis 
mill. This firm subsequently dissolved, Mr. Stetson taking the Pacific and Mr. Nelson the 
St. Louis mill. In 1879 the present firm of Nelson, Tenney & Co. was organized, comprus- 
ing the following members : B. F. Nel.son, W. M. Teimey, H. VV. McNair, and H. B. F"rx:y. 

The capital of the company is three hundred and fifty thousand dollars, of which Mr. 
Nelson is the heaviest stockholder and sole manager. The firm is one of the most successful 
wholesale lumber companies in the Northwest, having in Minnesota several branch yards, 
together with a number in Dakota Territory. 

The company is in possession of vast tracts of pine lands in different sections, supply- 
ing abundant material for its various manufacturing operations. Their largest manufactur- 
ing establishment is located in Minneapolis, occupying some twenty acres of land, worth 
at least five thousand dollars per acre. 

As the business of the company is rapidly increasing, it is diflScult to estimate the 



54 .\vf:r//ii/-:sr p/ograp//)'. 

quantitv of lumber annually manufacluitxl. In fkist years the annual average has been : 
twenty five million, lumber; twelve millioli, shingles ; six million, laths. The entire sales 
have amountevl to aKnit lour hundred thousand dollars jver annum. 

In iSoo Mr. Nelson was unites.! in matrimony to Martha Ross, who died in 1S74, 
leaving two sons. William E. and Guy 11. In 1S75 he tormeii a second matrimonial alliance, 
with Mary Fredingburg. 

Mr. Nelson is a member of the Masonic fraternity, having been an officer in several -^f 
the orders, and taken thirty-two degrees in oalerly succession. 

In religious sentiment Mr. Nelson is a worthy and an active member of the Methoiiist 
Episcopal Chun.~h. At this time he is one of the trustees of Hamlin University. 

The political sentiments of Mr. Nelson are purely Democratic. He is in perfect accord 
with the Jcflersonian principles of Democracy. He believes that the function of government 
is n^^itiv^ and n-jr/w/itv, rather than positive and active, and that self-government is the 
result of free individual action, energy, and independence. 

Mr. Nelson has been called to fill various offices of honor and trust, and among them 
that of alderman of the First Ward of Minneapolis. During a j>ericKl of three years, from 
iS8i to 1883. he dischargeil the duties of this office to the entire satisfaction of the public. 
He is at present an efficient member of the Bcvird of Education, having been elected to that 
responsible position in 1SS4. 

In studying the character and interesting career of Benjamin Franklin Nelson, the first 
consideration is his active and comprehensive mind. His record is a remarkable one for its 
simplicitv, its usefulness and success. 

What he w~as in youth has been briefly stated, what he has been in his maturer years 
his unceasing activity will demonstrate. In the midst of his business career he has not lost 
sight of the high duties of citizenship. He understands the constitution and laws of his 
country, and the duties of republican institutions. Educated in the atmosphere of 
Democracy, and during all the changes of political parties, he has been an undeviating 
Democrat. He has regauled this party as the great p;irty of political truth and patriotic 
duty, and entertains the belief that the Democratic i^wrty is the only p.irty that has the 
ability and integrity successfully to administer a republican government. 

We close this sketch not because the subject is e.xhausted. but because euougii has 
lieen said in behalf of a man who is entitled to high consideration for what he has done and 
for what he is doins. 





^i^^ 



CURTIS HUSSEY PETTIT. 55 



CURTIS HUSSEY PETTIT. 

IT is a common error to suppose that biography is useful only when applied to extraordi- 
nary men. Tlie representative men of a nation make up a portion of the world's 
history ; and all tlieir genius and strengtli have been applied either to the affairs of govern- 
ment or the development of science. They have mastered in their time the great subjects 
which involved the interests of an age ; but, in the duties incumbent upon a citizen in all 
the walks of private life or in the higher demands of public duty, they have furnished no 
more examples to be noted for the study of posterity than can be found scattered through- 
out the civilized world, in every society, in every class, profession, and condition. 

The wants of men are common and similar. They are supplied by ordinary and 
obvious means within the reach of all. Whoever has done the most to meet the wants of 
the many, whoever has averted and relieved the most suffering, prevented the most wrong, 
exhibited the best examples of duty, is a subject above all others for that biography which 
promises and establishes the most good for the greatest number. 

Should these introductory considerations seem to be somewhat extended, it may be 
remarked that the subject of this sketch is entitled to be invested with all the dignity 
which integrity can give, and with all the high elements of character which truth can 
furnish. 

Curtis Hussey Pettit was born in Hanover, Columbiana County, Ohio, September 18, 
1833. He is the son of Joseph Pettit, born near Hanover, Ohio, 1809, and Hannah G. 
Hussey, born in Jefferson County, Ohio, in 18 10. 

Mr. C. H. Pettit, born and reared in the society of Friends, received the first rudiments 
of an education in the schools of that fraternity. He afterwards devoted two years to study 
at the Oberlin Seminary in Ohio. Soon after laying aside his books, he entered upon a 
career of business pursuits. His active and comprehensive mind may be inferred from the 
various enterprises which, during several years subsequently, engaged his attention. In 
1855, at the age of twenty-two, he resigned his business in the city of Cleveland, Ohio, and 
established himself in the banking business in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In the spring of 
i860 he disposed of his banking interests, and engaged in the hardware trade until 1867, at 
which time, in connection with other parties, he embarked in the lumber business, and 
subsequently, in copartnership with Mr. Christian, engaged in flour-milling. 

As a public man, Mr. Pettit has been called to fill various offices of honor and trust, 
and, among them, that of State Senator, in the sessions for the years of 1866, 1868, 1870, and 
1871. He was a member of the State House of Representatives, in the sessions of 1874, 
1875, 1876, and 1S87; all the duties of which were discharged with an aim to public good, 
and to the entire satisfaction of those who clothed him with official power. 

Mr. Pettit is a gentleman of large business qualifications. He is quick to perceive and 
sure to comprehend the meaning of things, however they may be involved. He is among 



56 NORTHWEST BrOCRAPHV. 

the foremost to favor the right ; but no promise of gain would tempt him to compromise 
principle. 

In political sentiment Mr. Pettit is a Republican, and has for many years been a mem- 
ber of County, Congressional, and State Republican committees ; and has at different times 
held the position of chairman of each one respectively. 

Mr. Pettit was united in matrimony in Minneapolis, June 2, 1857, to Miss Deborah M. 
Williams, daugliter of Capt. Lewis H. and Tabitha P. Williams, who moved to Minneapolis 
in 1856, from Nevvville, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. 

In his domestic relations Mr. Pettit enjoys the highest respect and honor, because there 
he is most intimately known. 

In studying the character and interesting career of Curtis Hussey Pettit, the first thing 
to be considered is his active and comprehensive mind. His record is a remarkable one for 
its simplicity, its usefulness, and its purity. He saw, from what had been done, what man 
was capable of doing. 

In the midst of his business enterprises, he has not lost sight of the higher duties of 
citizenship. He understands the nature and duties of republican institutions, and the 
sources of their life and strength ; and for many years was an active and efficient legislator 
in directing the public affairs of the State and nation. That he has nobly performed his own 
part will be admitted by all who know him, and will be seen by all who have knowledge of 
the events of his life. 



HENRY P. UPHAM. 

IN writing the history of the Northwest, the work would be very imperfectly executed if 
it omitted to give a just reference to those citizens who have been most prominently 
encraged in the various departments of commerce and business, and whose labors and exertions, 
united to their ability and enterprise and the sagacious use of their capital, have so largely 
contributed to foster the wonderful prosperity and progress of the city of St. Paul ; and who 
have been so closely identified with the various movements and agencies which have built 
it up to its present vigorous and successful condition. It has always been too much the 
custom for historians and biographical writers to magnify the acts and exploits of military 
heroes, or of those whom they wish to elevate into fame, and to pass by the real heroes of_ 
civil life. But "peace hath her victories, no less renowned than those of war." There is 
no reason why the power of commercial genius and industry should not be recognized in 
historv, when they are the causes of the great achievements of commerce and finance. The 
keen sagacity, the comprehensive but ready judgment, the active memory, and, perhaps 
more than all, the prompt and bold decision needed in great commercial enterprises and 
combinations, are some of the most powerful attributes of the human mind, which ought to 
rank above mere animal courage and military skill. The real heroes are not found alone on 
the field of war. They are in the marts of commerce as well. Undeniably among the 




:^^^ /?/ 




HENRY P. UPHAM. 57 

most influential and potent of the agencies which have so aided our material development 
are the banks and the banking capital of Minnesota, and especially of its metropolitan city, 
St. Paul. And we now propose to give some account of one who has, for many years, been 
prominently identified with that element of our civic prosperity, Mr. Henry P. Upham, 
president of the First National Bank of St. Paul. 

No biographical sketch of any person would be complete without some account of his 
ancestry, so closely connected are inherited tendencies with the life and career of every 
human being. 

The name "Upham" is undoubtedly one of the oldest surnames known in English 
history. It is found recorded in the Domesday Book itself (date 1086) as the name of a 
place, during the reign of luhvard the Confessor, which was prior to the Norman Conquest. 
This would prove, beyond a doubt, that the name is not Norman, as some have thought. 
But the etymology of the name further shows that it is of Anglo-Saxon origin. Both 
Arthur and Dixon, in their valuable works on the origin of surnames, state that Upham 
signifies, in Anglo-Saxon, a "house, or town, on a height." Bosworth, in his Anglo-Saxon 
dictionary, gives the etymology of the word as : "up," or " upp," exalted, high ; and "ham," 
to mean home, dwelling, village, farm, etc. There is a parish called Upham, in Hampshire, 
which name is undoubtedly very ancient, and some authors have thought that the name mav 
have a Celtic origin, even, still more ancient than the Anglo-Sa.xon, as there is a village 
named Upham in Ireland. There are no documents in the archives of England, prior to the 
Conquest, giving surnames. The name "Upham " is one of the very first found recorded in 
the national manuscripts. In the Rotiili C/iar/onmi in London Tower (1208) the name 
occurs, where " Hugo de Upham " grants certain lands. This indicates that the familv 
were of some importance and substance, the prefix "de " signifying a possessor of estates. 
The lands conveyed are called Campis dc UpJiam, or Upham's fields. The prefix "de" was 
dropped about 1445. Lower, in his learned work on British surnames, says Upham is one 
of that large class of names having a local origin. The Uphams in their physical appear- 
ance are unmistakably Saxon and not Norman. What w-as the ancestral residence of that 
line of the family of which we are about to speak, has not as yet been definitely ascertained, 
but further researches may settle the question with certainty. 

The first of the Upham lineage who settled in America, of whom we have any account, 
was John LTpham, or " Uphame," as the name was spelled then, who was a native of Eng- 
land, born about 1600, and who landed at Weymouth, Colony of Massachusetts, in 1635, 
as the town records show that he was "admitted freeman" in that year. He was married 
prior to his emigration, and had several children, and some more were born to him after his 
arrival. John Upham was a man well fitted by his character and attainments to be the 
founder of a long line of worthy and respected descendants in the New World. This is 
inferred from the fact that lie was repeatedly chosen as representative to the General Court, 
— the first time, the year following his arrival, — as a commissioner to treat with the Indians, 
or to settle disputes with neighboVing towns ; was selectman for some years, at Wey- 
mouth and subsequently at Maiden, where he removed about 1650 ; and was a deacon in the 
church for over twenty-four years. All these were distinctions which, in those good old 
luicorrupted days, were never conferred except on the most tiustworthy citizens. This 



58 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

worthy man died at Maiden about February 25, 1681, aged eighty-four years, and his tomb- 
stone is still to be seen in the old graveyard of that town. 

Phineas Upham was the son of John, the emigrant. He was born in Massachusetts, 
in 1635, and in 1675 was commissioned a lieutenant, and at once entered active service in 
King Philip's War. December 19, 1675, he was severely wounded in the attack on an 
Indian fort in Rhode Island, and died of his injury in October, 1676. 

We now give briefly the line of descent of the nine generations of the Upham family 
in America, beginning with John, the emigrant: I. John, born 1597; 11. Pliineas, born 
1635 ; III. Phineas, born 1659; ^^ ■ Phineas, born 1683; V. Isaac, born 1714; VI. Nathan, 
born 1750; \'II. Pliny, born 1771 : VIII. Joel Worthington, born 1803; IX. Henry P., 
born 1837. The first four of these generations lived at Maiden, and the second four at 
Brookfiekl, Massachusetts. 

Joel Worthington Upham, father of Henry P., was born in Brookfiekl, Massachusetts, 
October 24. 1S03. He married, May 4, 1831, Miss Seraphina Howe. The Howe family are 
also of old New-England stock, its first American ancestor, John Howe, having settled in 
Massachusetts in 1635 ; and a large family sprang from him, including a number of men 
and women eminent in American history. Mrs. Upham died October 29, 1839, when the 
subject of this sketch was only two years old. Mr. Joel W. Upham was one of the pioneer 
manufacturers in America of the famous turbine water-wheel, and made many valuable 
improvements in it. He died in Worcester, August 10, 1879. 

Thus it will be seen that the Uphanis for eight generations were all men of ability, 
honored citizens, filling places of trust and responsibility, and enjoying the savor of an 
irreproachable reputation. They all bore their full share in founding and moulding the 
destiny of our nation. They all possessed that sturdy, God-fearing devotion to principle 
and that unswerving rectitude which characterized our New-England forefathers during 
the first two centuries in the new world, and which left such a valuable impress upon 
our American life. And the Upham women, too, were no less noted for nobility of 
character, deep piety, and lovely domestic virtues. The religious fervor, the bravery, 
the energy, and the patience amid trials and privations which the Puritan fathers evinced, 
can never be too much admired by their descendants. E\ery nation ought to honor 
and revere its historic nobility. These primitive forefathers are the nobility of our nation, 
and a more genuine and true nobility, too, than those of European countries, not depend- 
ent, as the latter largely are, on the caprices of royal favor or the fortuitous luck of 
descent, but earned by brave deeds and virtuous living before God and man. As Tenny- 
son has so aptly written, — 

" Howe'er it be, it seems to me, 'tis only noble to be good ; 
Kind Iiearts are more than coronets, and simple faith than Norman blood." 

A good old I'rench proverb says, "Bon sang iic pent niciilir ;" or, "Good blood will 
assert itself." A man descended from a worthy ancestry is necessarily started in life, at his 
very birth, with a majority of chances in his favor towards making it a success, and achicv- 
insj an honorable career in the world. Those who have read the able works of Gallon or 



IinXRY p. UPHA}f. 59 

Ribot on "Heredity" can realize liow powerful an influence is exerted on any person by 
the hereditary traits and proclivities which, if good and desirable, are the best legacy that 
ancestors can entail upon their posterity. We propose to see how the rule applies in the 
case at issue. 

Henry P. Uphani was born in Millbury, Worcester County, Massachusetts, on January 
26, 1837 ; and, when about three years of age, his father removed to Worcester, where Henry 
resided during nearly his whole minority. He was educated at the public schools in that 
city, schools which have always been known as among the best in a -State which boasts, 
justly too, of being second to none in that line. After quitting school, perhaps in 1856, 
and being now brought face to face with that old problem, what to do — what to choose for a 
future career ? — the fact impressed itself on Henry's mind that the great Northwest (then 
attracting so much attention from those desiring a new home) would offer better chances to 
a young man of energy and ambition than the crowded and inactive cities of an old settled 
community. After some reflection, he resolved to remove to .St. Paul, Minnesota, which he 
had frequently heard spoken of as a thriving and promising place. Mr. Upham, /m-, did 
not oppose his son's project, feeling satisfied as he was that with his acquirements and his 
natural abilities the latter could succeed in a new country as well as any other person. 
Consequently, young Mr. Upham bade farewell to his paternal residence, and turned his 
face to the " land of promise," the great Northwest. 

He reached St. Paul on March 19, 1857, and at once prepared to cast in his lot with the 
men of that era. The St. Paul of 1857 differed extremely from the St. Paul of 1887. Then 
it was a little frontier town of about ten thousand inhabitants (perhaps less), without much 
wealth, business, or capital, ami with almost as many blanketed Indians in sight as civilized 
white men. The ambitious little town was just then enjoying an intense real-estate excite- 
ment and inflation, a regular craze indeed, the bubble of which, four months later, was 
pricked by the financial revulsion which swept over the United States with such a disas- 
trous effect on business, and banks especially, — a revulsion which affected St. Paul worse 
and more irremediably, perhaps, than almost any other city in the Union. Into this field 
Mr. Upham embarked all his resources, confident and resolute, although he was little more 
than a mere boy, being not yet of age. He was fortunate in forming a business copartner- 
ship with Chauncy W. Griggs, then and still a prominent and highly respected business man 
of St. Paul, and since State Senator, and colonel of the Third Minnesota Volunteers during 
the Rebellion. The firm engaged in the lumber business, which they carried on with little 
interruption, but much success, for several years, owning and operating at one time a sawmill, 
located on the bank of the Mississippi River, in what is now known as West St. Paul. Mr. 
Upham, during a part of this period, was engaged in the flouring-mill industry, also. During 
this period he gave close and faithful attention to business and to its rules and principles, 
and was steadily making valuable acquaintances, building up by careful and conscientious 
efforts a reputation as a business man of energy and probity, and extending his influence 
and credit. While sometimes what is known as "success in life" seems to the casual 
observer to be a prize easily won, or the result of mere luck, those who have studied these 
things most closely know that this is an illusion. Character, reputation, commercial stand- 
ing, is not the work of a day. It is the guerdon of years of effort, usually, and of unyield- 
ing devotion and loyalty to duty. 



(oo NORTH \V 11 Sr BIOGRAPHY. 

Hut the business in which Mr. Upham has been engaged longest, and is best known in 
the State, is tlie banking business. In 1863 he became teller in the banking-house of 
Thompson Brothers, then the leading bankers of St. Paul. Of this house Mr. James 
]'-gbert Thompson was president, and Horace Thompson cashier. These two gentlemen 
were perhaps the most able, sagacious, and enterprising financiers in the whole Northwest, 
the latter indisputably so. They conducted a prosperous business for some years, James E. 
dying very suddenly in 1870, and Horace in i88o, both greatly lamented. During the year 
1S63, the Messrs. Thompson with other capitalists took steps to organize a national bank, 
and the charter of the I'irst National Hank of St. Paul was granted to them, the first one 
organized in ]\Iinnesota, and one of the earliest in the country, its charter being numbered 
203. It started with a capital of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Mr. Upham was 
teller for two )ears from its organization, and then assistant cashier ; and became deservedly 
popular with the patrons of tlie bank, by those qualities of candor and boulioniic which 
always attract friends and win their confidence and love. 

In 1869, with other gentlemen, Mr. Upham aided in organizing the "City Hank of St. 
Paul," of whicli he was cashier, and General Henry H. Sibley presiilent, which institution 
was operatetl with much success for some four years, when it was deemed advantageous to 
consolidate with the l'"irst National Hank. Mr. I'lihani became one (jf the officers of the 
re-organized bank. After the death of James E. Thompson, in 1870, Horace Tliomjison, 
then cashier, became president, and Mr. Upham was elected cashier in 1S73. This respon- 
sible and laborious post the latter continued to fill in such a manner as to merit the warmest 
]iraise and confidence of both the stockholders and jiatrons of the bank, until 1880, when, 
after the lamented death of Horace Thompson, he was promoted to the vacant chair of 
president, — a i)roniotion, as all the patrons of the bank felt, admirably won by long and 
faithful service, cxi^erience, and proven integrity. " Seest thou a man diligent in business," 
said the writer of the Proverbs, "he shall stand before kings." In fact, such men are kings 
themselves, in a certain sense, by the very fact that those qualities with which nature has 
■ endowed them, which "compel success," and their energy in employing them, raise them 
above the ordinary level of their fellows, and thus fit them for commanders and leaders of 
men.' Such men naturally find their place. And, it "success is a test of merit," as is 
frequently asserted, the success of the First National Hank is an indication of the good 
management of its president and his associate officers and directors. During the period of 
which we write, keeping pace with the growth of the city and State in population and 
wealth, the bank had extended its business almost tenfold, and its capital stock, originally 
two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, had quadrupled, with a surplus (at the present date) 
of seven hundred thousand dollars, and a constantly extending cliciittlc. During 1884 a 
large and elegantly constructed building, designed expressly for the use and convenience of 
the bank, was built and occupied by it, one of the most commodious, secure, and well- 
planned bank-buildings in the West, and admirably fitted to accommodate its extensive and 
rapidly growing business, and its necessarily large corps of attaclies. 

The iiosition of president of a metropolitan bank, as every observant man who has 
frequented them well knows, is one of the most difficult and responsible known in the range 
of commerce, and fully taxes all the energies and faculties of its incumbents. Perhaps on 



HENRY P. UPHAM. 6i 

no one officer, in any business, do more trying responsibilities rest. It is analogous, in some 
respects, to the post of commander of an ocean steamer, who is charged with its safety, 
good management, and success, and who must have an eye which never sleeps, vigilantly 
watching its general course, its chances and prospects, down to the minute details of the 
work of the humblest sub-officer. While the work of a large banking-house is subdivided 
and classified among many employes, and though these may be efficient and faithful, the 
directing head must see that all portions of the machinery are working effectively and har- 
moniously. There must, then, be sleepless vigilance and never-rela.xing care, so as to 
observe that no trust is betrayed, no duty neglected, but that all the intricate work, so full 
of important minutiae and details, is correctly and promptly done. But the obligations and 
responsibilities are more far-reaching than this routine of inspection into details. The 
finances of the country, and especially the financial measures of Congress (which, some 
writer has said, is a perpetual menace to the capital and business of the country while it is 
in session), are to be carefull)- studied, and the consequences of all measures weighed and 
canvassed, so as to fully understand them, and tluis be able to take advantage of all move- 
ments and changes of the money market. Capital is an exceedingly sensitive thing, and 
every indication that is furnished by all side movements must be scrutinized, so as to guard 
the bank against any surprise by panics, revulsions, stringencies, or any detrimental changes 
in the financial policy of the nation. At the same time, there must be prompt cognizance 
taken of all opportunities for profitable investments. He must keep his finger, so to speak, 
on the pulse of the business world, see its changes, its wants, its dangers or advantages, 
and thus be able, like a pilot, to guide his precious charge between the shoals and the rocks 
that continually beset every important business enterprise. Perhaps, more than 'any other 
person the bank's president controls its financial policy, and has in his hands the keys of 
its success ; and he is thus necessarilv obliged to give careful and minute studv to the 
financial skies. Not only the large capital embarked by the stockholders is at stake, but the 
money of its depositors, amounting to millions of dollars, perhaps, a sacred trust, might be 
lost or jeopardized by any serious mistakes in the management or policy of the bank or its 
officers. To preserve the proper equilibrium between too liberal discounts, or loans with too 
little regard to the solvency of the borrower, and too much conservatism in making loans, 
and thus hampering really deserving business enterprises and obstructing the commercial 
growth of the community, must always be a source of anxious thought and study to bank 
managers. It is, of course, one important object of banks to aid, and build up, and strengthen 
worthy enterprises in the city or State where they are located ; but it will be readily seen that 
there is a Charybdis and a Scylla both, which it is equally the duty of banks to avoid, antl 
they must hold the scale delicately and judiciously. And then, too, the history of banking 
in every country shows that banks are very frequently made the victims of bold and skilful 
chevaliers and confidence men, of daring swindlers or adroit forgers. To detect and 
baffle such plots requires, also, no little vigilance and sagacity. Then there are the thousand 
and one "schemes " which are being continually evolved from restless brains, almost universally 
selfish in their character, which have to be dissected, weighed, and stripped of their dis- 
guises. Necessaril\-, a bank president needs to be an infallible judge of character, through 
the physiognomy. He must have that quick, intuitive insight into human nature, that 



62 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

ability to pierce througli the masks whicli tliesc insinuating plotters wear, and read their 
thoughts and designs ; besides also possessing the nerve to promptly and mercilessly evis- 
cerate the intended deception in a few effective words. Then,' too, a person occupying 
such a position is naturally resorted to by a large circle of acquaintances, and even by 
strangers, for advice on a thousand matters, as many of the latter outside as connected with 
his profession. The list of these would give one curious revelations of human life. There 
come, perhaps, country bankers, in some trouble connected with their affairs, seeking coun- 
sel ; business men, embarrassed by suspected or real dangers, asking advice or assistance ; 
sometimes it is a merchant who has had disagreement with his partners or suspects their 
honesty ; timorous men asking advice about investments ; or even that large class of persons 
who are por[)etually in tiouble, real or imaginary, of some kind, and desire to have some one 
more sagacious and resolute than themselves to whom they can confide their woes and ask 
advice. Add to this, too, the ordinary concourse of visitors, callers, friends, subscription 
lakers, etc., all of whom must be received courteously and patientl)-, — all this constitutes a 
strain on the nervous system and the physical stamina of the incumbent which most gen- 
erally sends him home at night as wearied in mind and body as the hardest toiling day- 
laborer in the city. These things, which are almost unavoidable, tax his time and increase 
the mental and physical strain on his system and give him no time for rela.Kation. Many 
wonder why so many men in America (the land of nervous men) holding important business 
positions break down in health and often die prematurely and suddenly. But it is no 
mystery. It is simply the overta.xing of their strength, an absorption into their work of all 
their time, strength, and energies, causing exhaustion of the vital tissue, until the evil 
invited comes on unawares, and, in a moment when the unsuspecting victim can least be 
spared by his family or his business, paralyzes the strong body or the active brain. 

But the friends of the subject of this sketch, however, are glad to know that no such 
fate will overtake him, because he very wisely takes relaxation of the most sensible kind. 
Fortunately for Mr. Upham, his tastes in this direction are simple and sensible. One is his 
passion for books and historical studies ; and the other a keen enjoyment of field sports. 
Thus both his body and brain secure a necessary relaxation. For an overtasked business 
man to leave his office with its wearying pressure of exciting business, his brain heated with 
exhausting problems, and nerves unstrung by too long tension, and escape to the breezy 
prairies in August, in pursuit of the jjinnated grouse; or again b)' the marge of lovely lakes 
or reed-lined streams, where the aquatic fowl are wont to congregate by myriads in the cool 
autumn, is surely a most sensible pastime, tingcing the checks with the glow of health, and 
giving a firmer tone to the nerves. And we might remark, en passant, that Mr. Upham is 
no unskilful marksman, as his always well-filled game hampers on the return trip attest. 

Mr. Upham's fondness for books anil reading, which we referred to above, might almost 
warrant his friends in calling him a bookworm, were it not that he is actuated by no mere 
desire of pleasing a hobby, but by a real love of investigation and study, for the sake of the 
knowledge gained. His most usual studies have been in the direction of American gene- 
alogy, and family and local history, in which he has become one of the most skilful and 
experienced students in this country, certainly in the West. The librarian of the Minne- 
sota Historical Society, of which institution Mr. Upham has for some twenty years been an 



tJENRY P. UPHAM. 6^ 

active member and director, states that lie believes that the latter gentleman is one of the 
best informed and most skilled and thorough genealogical scholars in the United States ; 
certainly so, he says, outside of a very small number of the oldest members of the New- 
England Historic, Genealogical Society in Boston. And while he has been remarkably suc- 
cessful, too, in gathering data for the genealogy of his own ancestors and their descendants, 
he has also generously given valuable aid to other investigators. On New-England local 
history he is also accurately posted, and his knowledge of the bibliography of this depart- 
ment has been of signal value to the Minnesota Historical Society, of whose library com- 
mittee he has for many years been an active member, and given most valuable aid in select- 
ing and purchasing rare books for its choice library of historical and genealogical works, as 
well as serving in the office of treasurer, where his financial skill has been useful in securing 
advantageous investments for the society's permanent fund. 

Mr. Upham has also for several years been a director of the St. Paul Public Library, 
giving valuable services in organizing and conducting it, and also in the selection and pur- 
chase of their rapidly growing library and in shaping the successful administration of the 
institution. lie is also a leading member and director of the Minnesota Club, one of the 
important social institutions of the city. He has, it should be stated here, a large and care- 
fully selected private library, to whose contents he is no stranger, as his books are kept for 
use and not show, although many of them are in rich and handsome binding. He has 
studied them thoroughly and con anion; and is well posted on literature in general. In 
recognition of his attainments in the field of American genealogy and local history, 
Mr. Upham has been elected an honorary member of the Worcester, Massachusetts, 
Society of Antiquity, an institution for the promotion of those studies. He is also a 
member, and was at one time president, of the Ramsey-County Pioneer Association, and is 
one of the oldest members of Ancient Landmark Lodge No. 4, Ancient Free and Accepted 
Masons, and also of Damascus Commandery No. i, Knights Templar. He is also a 
perpetual member of the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce. His name is also connected 
with other good enterprises, to all of which he has been a generous contributor both of 
money and services, and he can look back on not a few institutions of which our citv is 
proud that he has helped to build up. There iiave been few subscription papers (for worthy 
objects, that is) which do not contain his name for a liberal sum. 

On September 23, 1868, Mr. Upham was united in marriage, by the late Rev. Andrew 
Bell Paterson, Rector of St. Paul's Church, to Miss Evelyn Gertrude Burbank of St. Paul, 
daughter of the late Colonel Simeon Burbank, formerly of Vermont, and sister of the late 
James C. Burbank, one of the prominent pioneers of St. Paul, and of Henry C. Burbank, one 
of its leading merchants and manufacturers. Miss Burbank was also the descendant of an 
historic American family, her grandfather. Lieutenant Samuel Burbank, having fought at 
Bunker Hill and served three years under General Sullivan. It is worthy of notice that his 
widow, a Revolutionary pensioner, was living as late as 1840. Mrs. Upham is an amiable 
and accomplished lady, endowed with rare graces both of person and mind, and admirably 
fitted by her devotion to the duties of wife and mother to preside over the hospitable home 
of her husband, which has been the scene of many a delightful entertainment given to their 
large circle of friends in \ears past. We can but conjecture by the fireside of domestic 



64 NORTH WEST BIOGRAPHY. 

seclusion the liappiness and affection which make the Lairs and Penates of their home, as 
the old Romans would say, almost sacred. Three promising and amiable children have 
blessed this union: Gertrude, born October i, 1870; Grace, born December 31, 1873; and 
John Phineas, born December 2, 1877; the latter uniting in his Christian names those of 
two of his remote ancestors. 

In concluding this sketch, the author suffers from that embarrassment which every 
biographer feels who endeavors to write of a living person, because he is prevented by the 
manifest circumstances of the case from speaking of the subject in such terms of warm 
eulogy as simple justice to the latter might demand and the truth fully warrant. But in 
this case the plain facts tliemselves, which we have recounted above, need no coloring to 
constitute the- best eulogy of our subject. It is most proper to let facts speak for them- 
selves. We have simpl)-, and without any attempt at ornament, narrated the main incidents 
of Mr. Upham's business life in St. Paul, recounting how he cast his lot in this community 
in the earlier and ruder days of our civic history, then a mere youth, it might be said 
unknown, and with only his native industry and integrity for his backers, then making 
his way by merit alone, step b\' step, to one of the highest and most responsible positions in 
our city. This is simply the fruit of good principles and high aims and of industry, energy, 
and business talent of the highest oidcr, combined with a delicate sense of personal honor 
and true manhood, together with attractive personal virtues and am.iability of heart. 
Careers such as this teach a valuable lesson to the youth of our land, inspiring them with 
worthy ambition and lofty resolves to win success by real industry, honest application, and 
fidelity to sacred trusts. 



SAMUEL CHESTER GALE. 

THE Gales of the United States are mostly of English or rather Scotch origin. For 
many centuries families of that name have lived in Yorkshire, Devonshire, and other 
parts of England. The name was originally spelled in various ways : Gall, Galle, Gail, Gale, 
and Gael, ■ — the last being the most \isual method of spelling it until within a hundred and 
fifty years, and still adhered to by several of the English branches of the family. The 
word is of Celtic origin, and signifies a stranger, or wanderer, and from a very early date 
was used as a general name for the inhabitants of the Scottish Highlands. Individuals of 
this people descended into England, most likely, early in the Middle Ages, and were naturally 
designated by their race name. The " Domesday Book," compiled near the close of the 
eleventh century, under the direction of William the Conqueror, mentions the estate of 
" Gale's Shore," in Devonshire, as being in the possession of one Count Moriton. This 
estate had doubtless been confiscated by the Conqueror, and given to his follower, the Nor- 
man count. In the " Hundred Rolls " of 1273, the Gales are again mentioned as having 
some landed estates. In the seventeenth century several of this name became honorably 
distinguished. Rev. Theophilus Gale, born in Devonshire in 1G28, was a noted nonconform- 
ist minister, and wrote several books. At his death he bequeathed his large library to 



SAMUEL CHESTER GALE. 65 

Harvard College, Massachusetts. Dr. Thomas Gale, who lived about the same time, was an 
eminent divine and antiquarian, and wrote the anti-papal inscription on the London Monu- 
ment, which Pope says, — 

" Like a tall bully lifts its head and lies." 

F"ro;n this Devonshire stock unquestionably came the Richard Gale who settled on a 
"homestall " of six acres in Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1640, and who is the ancestor of 
most of the American Gales. Before his death these si.\ acres had widened into two hundred 
and fifty acres, upon which a part of the village of Watertown now stands. This tract 
remained in possession of the family until about 1S54, when it became the homestead of 
Major-General N. P. Banks. Richard's name is not fountl among the members of the Water- 
town church, and so for this reason, if for no other, he never w-as allowed to vote in the 
affairs of the town or hold office; and notwithstanding the town could boast of a schoolhouse 
"twenty-two feet long and fourteen feet wide," which was robbed by an Indian of "seven- 
teen Greek and Latin books," in 1664, Richard himself, it appears, never mastered the art of 
writing, for his will is signed with his mark. The inventory found recorded with this will 
affords some quaint and curious information as to property and values in that ancient colony 
over two hundred years ago (1679). ^^'^ reproduce some of the entries, preserving their 
ancient orthography : — 

" Si.x acres of upland upon the great plaine joyning to ye farme, three pounds. Three acres of 
meadow lieing upon stoiiie brooke, six pounds. Two Oxen, five cows, two heifers of a year and van- 
tage, twenty-five pounds. His wearing cloths, both woolin and linin, one pound five shillings. A 
peuter plater, a peuter bason, a peuter quart, six spoons, six shillings. 2 iron kettles, one iron pot, a 
pair of pot hooks, a tarnell, one pound one shilling. An old spinning wheel, a small parcel of woolin 
yarn, a paire of cards, seven shillings. Eight bushels of rye, a small parcel of salt meat in ye tub, 
two pounds four shillings. .\ firelock musket, a spit, a smoothing iron, sixteen shillings. An iron 
gripe for a plow, a barking in)n, a cross cut saw, 4 old hows, 2 old sickles, other old iron, fourteen 
shillings. 12 yards of woolin home-made cloth, one pound four shillings." 

Richard Gale had five children, among them Abraham, This Abraham, "selectman " in 
1706, left sixteen children, every one with a good old Bible name, and among them another 
Abraham, " selectman " in 1718. Isaac, a son of the latter, removed from Watertown to 
Sutton in the same State. From here he marched with a company of men into the French 
and Indian War, in 1757. He valued his military achievements so highly that at his death he 
bequeathed his sword to the successive Isaacs in his family line. In 1864, the last Isaac 
being dead, this sword was presented to Galesville University, Wisconsin, for preservation. 
His son, also named Isaac, removed from Sutton to Royalston, in the same State, in 1770. 
He served as sergeant in the campaign of 1776, in the northern army at Ticonderoga. 
Jonathan, son of the last named Isaac, and one of thirteen children, was also in the Revolu- 
tionary War, member of the 3d Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, though at the time but 
sixteen years of age. Jonathan's son Isaac, also one of thirteen children, and the eldest, 
served fifty-six days in the war of 1812, for which service his surviving widow drew a pen- 
sion. He occupied, with his father, a rocky, sterile farm in the west part of his native town. 



66 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

In 1813 he married Tamar Godclard, whose father, Samuel Goddard, a tanner, shoemaker, 

and farmer, with his twelve children, lived one and a half mile away. To Isaac and Tamar 

wcie born ten children, the eldest of whom was Rev. Amory Gale, and the seventh of whom 

is the subject of this sketch. How subsistence for two such large families, embracing; 

twenty-three children, was wrung from such a patch of unpromising soil is a marvel ; yet it 

was done, and respectably too. The old red schoolhouse, a mile and a half distant, saw all 

this array of young folks, duly eciuipped, filing in through its door every day in the year 

when that door was open, and on Sunday the same procession was started off just as 

promptly to "meetin'." 

The father, Isaac, died in 1838, after a lingering illness of six years, leaving the chief 

care and support of the family upon the mother. Her remarkable spirit and energy entitle 

her to special mention in these annals. She was of the Goddard family, of English descent. 

The name was brought into England early by those bold rovers, the Northmen, but was then 

Godr or Godord, meaning a priest or priest-king. The French quality of the Norman dm- 

quest subsequently added for a time, in some instances, the affix " ville," making Goderville 

or Godordville. In A.D. 1250, Walter Goderville is found occupying and owning land in North 

Wiltshire. Early in the fifteenth century his grandson, " John Godord de Poulton," in tiic 

reign of Richnrd II., received an estate at Upham (Uppam) from Shakespeare's famous 

character, — • 

"Old John of Gaunt, time-honored Lancaster." 

The grandson of the last named John Godord de Poulton took the name of "John Godord 
de Uppam." April 24, 1 541, he received extensive gifts and grants from Henry VIII., by 
fine parchment deed, still in perfect preservation, with the seal of the king attached. The 
family estates embraced the Manor of Cliffe Pypard, which lias remained in the family to 
the present time, a period of three hundred and fifty years. And so the line is clearly traced, 
father and son, from the Walter Goderville of 1250 to Edward Goddard of 1640, a wealthy 
farmer of Norfolk, who, taking the parliament side in the civil war, was reduced to poverty 
by the Cavaliers. His son William, "citizen and grocer" of London, in 1666, "embarked 
for the American wilderness with his wife and children, and landed in Watertown, Massachu- 
setts, settling on a small farm directly opposite the meeting-house," almost in sight of the 
"homestair'of Richard Gale; though the two family streams did not unite until they had 
flowed after that a long time and a long way separately. 

Here are some curious extracts from the record of this William in the archives of the 
town : — 

" Admitted to full communion January 8, 1677 ! admitted freeman (voter), December, 1677. 

" March 27, 1680 : These are to certify that Mr. William Goddard, whom the said town, by cov- 
enanting, engaged to teach such cliildren as should be sent to him to learn tlie rules of the Latin 
tongue, hath those accomplishments which render him capable to discharge the trust coiiticlcd to him. 
(Signed) John Sherm.\n, rastor."' 

His son Benjamin, "admitted to full communion July 31, 16S7," lived in Charlestown. 
A second Benjamin, son of last named, a " housewright," settled in Grafton, Massachusetts, 



SAMUEL CHESTER GALE. 67 

\vhen(.e his son Samuel, before mentioned, removed to Royalston, and settled upon a tract of 
wild land, about the year 1780. His was a representative household of the old Puritanstock ; 
prayerful, austere, persistent, hard-working, faithful, and ambitious. Most of the children 
inherited unuslial intellectual ability, and, in spite of scanty means, several of the nine sons 
acquired a liberal education. They all but three reached maturity, and were intelligent men 
of high character. The eldest, Samuel, was a Congregational clergyman, settled at Norwich, 
Vermont, and widel)' known throughout that State. Col. Salmon Goddard succeeded his 
father at the old homestead, and was a man of decided mark and influence. A son of one 
of the daughters (^Elizabeth) was Judge Asahel Peck, late governor of \'ermont. The 
daughter Tamar, though married young, and denied opportunities for education and culture, 
and compelled, moreover, to walk through man\- laborious, an.xious years, carrying with very 
scanty means her fatherless )oung family, still through it all she m:.intaincd a remarkable 
\igor of body, of understanding, and of religious principle. She died in her eighty-fifth 
year, at her son's residence in Minneapolis, and was buried b\' the side of her husband in her 
native town. 

Samuel Chester Gale was born in Royalston, Massachusetts, on the 15th of September, 
1827. At five years of age he was apprenticed to his mother's brother, Salmon, to learn the 
tanner's trade. It soon appeared that he had more aptitude for books than for tanning, so 
the tanning was dismissed when he was seventeen \'ears old. From this time he set about 
preparations for college, supporting iiimself meantime by farm labor and by teaching, con- 
tributing also toward the support of his mother's family. This compelled a broken course 
of study at the several academies of that region. New Salem, Shelburne Falls, and West 
Rrattleboro. lie finally entered Yale College, where he graiiuated in 1854, in a class of 
ninety-seven members. Toward his support in college he received kindly aid from his 
uncle, Benjamin Goddard of Worcester, Massachusetts. In college Mr. Gale held a leading- 
position in his class as an independent thinker, and especially as a debater. At graduation 
he was elected class orator by his associates. He then attended Harvard Law School for 
one year, and the next two years taught schools at New Haven and Worcester, in the mean 
time continuing to read law. In May, 1857, moved by that impulse which sends half of 
voung New England to the West, he emigrated to Minneapolis, where, in the succeeding 
fall, he was admitted to the bar. After a year or two of law practice, he found himself so much 
engaged in real-estate transactions as well as loan and insurance brokerage, that law prac- 
tice in court was no longer attempted. This business has been ever since continued, and has 
proved successful. For a considerable portion of the time his younger brother, Harlow A. 
Gale, George H. Rust, and his brother Amory's son, A. F. Gale, have been associated with 
him, the style of the firm being Gale & Co. Mr. Gale has been prominent and influential in 
aiding to shape the policy and character of the young city of his choice, having for several 
years been a member of the council, board of education, and president of the board of trade. 
His tastes and habits are scholarly. He is especially fond of historical and scientific studies ; 
and is, on occasion, an effective writer and public speaker. In politics he is an independent 
Republican ; in religion a rationalist of the broad and charitable school. He has always been 
an earnest and liberal supporter of all measures fur the elevation of the people. In 18SS he, 
with his wife, erected and donated to her native town a very complete structure for a high 



68 XORTHlVESr BIOGRAPIIV. 

school and free public library ; at the same tiino .Mr. Gale gave to the Baptist Church in 
his native town a parsonage. 

Mr. Gale was married on the 15th of October, 1861, to Miss Su.san A. Damon, of Hol- 
den, Massachusetts, who was echicated chiefly at Maplcwood Institute, Pittsficld, Massachu- 
setts. She is a descendant, in the fifth degree, from Deacon Jolm Damon, who cmi<'-rated 
from Reading, England, to Reading, Massachusetts, as early as 1645. Their home in 
Minneapolis is a spacious and attractive one, abounding in books and other evidences of cul- 
ture. Their children are five. Edward Ciienery graduated at Yale in 1884. After a year 
iu Europe and a year at the Cambridge Law School, he was admitted to practise law at 
Minncapo!is. Alice is now abroad for a year or two, after graduating at Smith College, 
Northampton. Anna is at present a senior in the same college ; while anotlier daughter, 
Marion, and the youngest child, Charles Sumner, are still at home, engaged in preparatory 
studies. 



FRANCIS RUSSELL E. CORNELL. 

FRANCIS RUSSELL E. CORNELL was born in 1821 in Coventryvillc. Chenango 
County, State of New York. Mr. Cornell's father, Edward Cornell, was born in Guil- 
fortl, Chenango County, New York. He was fond of study and was a good scholar. He 
chose the profession of medicine, and for thirty years was a successful physician in Coven- 
tryvillc, where his son was born. He married Lavinia Elizabeth Miles of that town, a lady 
of fine mind, most lovely in character and amiable in disposition. Her physical organization 
was very delicate, antl for many years she remained an invalid, and died when her son was 
twelve years of age. During these years they lived together the bond of affection between 
them was of the closest kind ; they seemed to live in each other, and no doubt his mother'.s 
deep religious nature and finely cultivated mind had much to do in forming the character of 
her son. Roth parents died at Coventryville, and F. R. E. Cornell was their only son. 

His grandparents were American ; their ancestors were English. His maternal grand- 
mother was a Yale, relative of the founder of Yale College. His grandfather Cornell was a 
kinsman of tl>e founder of Cornell L-niversity at Ithaca, New York. There were farmers and 
lawyers and physicians and merchants, and many of them occupied places of local distinction. 

Mr. Cornell was fond of study when a boy, and learned readily. His father took great 
pains with his early education to see that he was well and thoroughly instructed. He had a 
very delicate constitution, and several times during his boyhood was very ill, so that his 
studies were often interrupted ; but when health returned he soon made up the lost time. 
At the age of thirteen he entered Oxford Acadeni)-, in the .State of New York, where he 
remained four years. During this time, at the age of fifteen, he tauglit a district school of 
seventy scholars (among them were several young men studying Latin and Greek), and he 
gave such satisfaction that they were an.xious to secure him for the next winter. But the 
duties were too arduous, and he accepted a situation to teach a select school of smaller num- 




\- J^ 




// 



FRAXC/S RUSSELL E. CORNELL. 69 

bors. Both winters he pursued his studies and kept up with his classes, and graduated at 
Oxford with the highest honors, receiving the appointment of valedictorian. Merritt G. 
McHoose was principal, and i\Iiss Whitney preceptress. Both were distinguished educators, 
and gave to the academy for many years a celebrity equal if not paramount to any other in 
the State. At eighteen years of age he entered Union College at Schenectady, New York, 
and upon examination was found prepared to enter the second year. His college course was 
marked by the same studious habits and persevering industry that had always characterized 
him. During this course he taught a select school in the same village two winters, and gave 
great satisfaction both to patrons and pupils, keeping up with his classes in college perfectly. 
At the age' of twenty-one he graduated, with honor to himself and the many friends who 
were watching his career with pride and pleasure. 

Soon after graduating he went to Corning, New York, to read law in the office of Mr. 
Johnson, afterward judge of the Supreme Court of that State. The profession of law was 
his first and only cho'ce. While pursuing his legal studies he taught a select school two 
winters in Corning with the assistance of another teacher. He had wonderful tact in 
imparting knowledge, and for this reason some of his friends urged him to become a profes- 
sional instructor ; but the law had his preference. He was slender in stature, and from his 
infancy up to manhood was never strong, subject until his later years to severe headaches ; 
but his mind was very active and he was fond of study, and his bodily weakness had to 
succumb to the superior force. Especially was this the case in the last few years of his 
life, when from the nature of his disease he must have suffered intensely had not his mind 
been so absorbed in his legal pursuits as to render him insensible to bodily pain. In every 
situation of life he always manifested great calmness and fortitude, and with his slender 
physical development it was surpiising how much he accomplished. 

When his legal studies were finished with Judge Johnson, he removed to Addison, New 
York, where he commenced the practice of his profession. He soon formed a partnership 
with Mr. A. G. Chatfield, a lawyer of good ability, who at the expiration of about a year 
removed to Minnesota and became one of her judges. Mr. Cornell resided in Addison 
seven years ; he had a successful practice, and was twice elected to the Senate. His friends 
wished him to remain and become a candidate for Congress, but he had no taste for political 
life. After some hesitation whether to go East or West he decided upon the latter. A 
college friend had made him a fine offer to come to New-York City and form a partnership 
with him in the practice of law ; but the western country and especially the fine climate of 
Minnesota seemed to have the greater attraction, and in November, 1854, he removed to 
that State. On his way he visited Galena, Illinoi.s, and there met a college friend who 
offered him great inducements to remain and become his partner. Galena was then a flour- 
ishing city, with a fine prospect for future growth, while Minneapolis was in its infancy, with 
none of the avenues of business yet fairly opened. But the fine climate and beautiful loca- 
tion of that city, decided him to carry out his original intention, and he never regretted his 
decision. He took great interest in the new city, and was ever active in promoting her best 
interests, and felt great pride and pleasure in her growth and prosperity. His local attach- 
ments were very strong, and he never had any desire to travel. In the faithful performance 
of his duties lay his highest happiness, and no object could be presented to him sufficiently 



70 XORTf/U'IiST B/OGRAPIIV. 

attractive to swerve him from this course. His life in Minnesota can be easily obtained 
from the records and the services he performed. 

He was married in November, 1847, to F^liza O. Burgess of Coventryviile, whom he had 
known from childhood, and who had at different periods been his pupil through all the 
intervening years. 

He was a Universalist in belief, and altiiough never connected with the church by 
membership he was always an attendant on the Sunday services, and gave freely to their 
support, and was an earnest, sincere Christian in his daily life and character. He was very 
kindly in his feelings, and his desire that no one should suffer by unjust criticism always 
characterized his conversation. He had great faith in human nature, and great charity for 
its defects, and held firmly the conviction that the destiny of the race would be progressive. 

During his early life, when a young man, Mr. Cornell was fond of society, and partici- 
pated in its pleasures and amusements with a good deal of zest. He was genial and humor- 
ous and social in his feelings, and his manner was pleasing and cordial. But as he advanced 
in years and became more and more engrossed in Lis pursuits he lost his taste for general 
society, and enjoyed the intercourse of a few friends better, rrobabiy. during the last few 
years of his life, ill health induced him to seek rest and quiet when disengaged from his 
official duties. But this did not prevent him from keeping up his interest in the welfare of 
the citv or the citizens among whom he had lived so many years. 

E.xtracts from proceedings in memory of Associate Justice Cornell at a fully attended 
meeting of the bar of the State of Minnesota, held June 10, 18S1. 

From the memorial of the bar of the State : — 

" His fitness for the highest professional honors was recognized by his brethren at the bar and 
bv the people of the Suae, .\fter discharging the duties of attorney-general for repeated terms with 
si'^iial ability, he was elevated to the bencli of the Supreme Couri, and lias left a judicial record with- 
out blemish and above criticism, which will remain an imperishable testimony to his learning and 
abilitv after his f.urie at the bar shall have faded in the shadows of tradition." 

From the address of Gordon \L. Cole : — 



" No man who has ever embellished and adorned the bench or official position in this State w; 
CAer more conspicuously distinguished for the perfect purity of liis public and private character tha 

1 .^j f..: 1 '.. 



From response of Chief Justice Giltillan : — 

" His learning in the law was great : his quickness to apprehend the true issues in a cause and 
the right solution of them was marvellous, more so than I ever knew in any other man ; and at the 
same time his judgment was cautious and profound, his habit of investigation patient and conscien- 
tious. In his mental operations were united two characteristics not often found together. — quick, 
intuitive perception, and careful, patient reasoning. ... I should fail of doing justice to his memory 
and to his associates' appreciation of his memory if I omitted to mention . . . his uniform courtesy 
of manner, and the amiability and gentleness of his disposition and temper: an amiability and gentle- 
ness joined with the highest degree of manly energ)-." 




^ 




FRAXKLIX Bf DWELL LOXG. 71 



FRANKLIN BIDWELL LONG. 

PRACTICAL industry, wisely and vigoionsly applied, never fails of success. It carries 
a man onward and upward, brings out his individual character, and powerfully stimulates 
the action of others. All may not rise equally, yet each, on the whole, advances very much 
according to his deserts. " Though all cannot live on the piazza," as the Tuscan proverb 
has it, "every one may feel the sun." 

Franklin Bidwell Long was born March 3, 1842, in South Bainbridge, now called Afton, 
Chenango County, New York, lie is the son of Lewis Long and Eliza Juliette, ne'e Bidw^ell, 
of Wilmington, Vermont. His father was born April 27, 1801, and died April 27, 1856. 
His mother was born August 9, 181 1, and died September 10, 1863. 

The educational advantages of his early years were limited to the common school and 
the village academy. He early discovered a taste and capacity for the higher mathematics, 
and especially for mechanical studies. }{e was not only a natural student, but a practical 
one. When not engaged in manual labor his books were generally his companions. In 
1859 the family removed from Afton, New York, to Woodstock, Illinois. 

The activity and bent of his mind may be inferred from the fact that, after one year's 
attendance at school, he entered upon an active career of business in various fields of 
enterprise. In company with an elder brother he made a small investment in Iowa lands. 
With a restless desire for active employment he disposed of his interests in his Iowa prop- 
erty, and established himself in the city of Chicago as a carpenter and b.-.ilder. 

About this time his attention was called to the study of architecture, and he 
entered the office of J. C. Cochrane as student and draughtsman. At the expiration of 
a year, Mr. Long formed a partnership with a fellow-student, under the firm-name of Long 
& Ackeman. The firm was a success, but infirm health obliged Mr. Long to remove to 
Minneapolis, Minnesota. After one year's residence in that city he opened an office in a one- 
story building on Bridge Square. His subsequent career in Minneapolis as a leading 
architect is well and favorably known. Mr. Long designed and superintended the erection of 
the city hall. Later on he formed a partnership with R. S. Alden, one of the pioneer archi- 
tects of the Northwest. While engaged in superintending the main buildings of the State 
University Mr. Alden died, and Mr. Long associated with himself in business C. F. Haglin 
of New York. During this business engagement Mr. Long planned the Minneapolis High 
School edifice. Subsequently he became architect for the Milwaukee R. T. Co. west of 
the Mississippi River, for a period of four years. Having severed his connection with the 
aforesaid company, Mr. Long engaged in purchasing real estate, erecting and selling the 
improved property. While erecting the Kasota building Mr. Long formed a partnership 
with Mr. Fred Rees of Baltimore, Maryland. During this partnership tlic firm has erected 
some of the finest buildings in the State. The firm have recently been elected as archi- 
tects and superintendents of the new court house and city hall, about to be erected in the 
city of Minneapolis, at a cost of fifteen hundred thousand dollars. 



73 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

|i, 
In 1869 Mr. F. B. Long was married, in Binghamton, Broome County, New York, to 

Gertrude Clara, daughter of John F. and Mary Cashing Landers. \ 

In political sentiment Mr. Long is a Democrat .of the Jeffersonian school, although not ; 

an active politician. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and likewise a communi- ; 

cant in the Congregational Church. \ 

The leading characteristic of the business career of '\\\. Long is mainlv that of an 

earnest, straightforward, resolute, energetic man. Indeed, his whole character is most 

forcibly expressed in his own words, which every young man might well stamp upon his 

soul : " The longer I live," said he, " the more I am certain that the great difference between \ 

men, between the feeble and the powerful, the great and the insignificant, is energy, iiiviiici- ' 

ble detcnniitatioii, — a purpose once fixed, and then death or victory. That quality will do 

anything that can be done in this world ; and no talents, no circumstances, no opportunities, 

will make a two-legged creature a ;«/?« without it." 



JOHN CONRAD OSWALD. 

JOHN CONRAD OSWALD of Minneapolis, Minnesota, was born May 20, 1824, on his 
father's homestead in the village of Oberaach, Canton Thurgau (Thurgovie), Switzer- 
land. Jacob OswaKl was the name of his father, who was born December 19, 1788, in 
Oberaach, Canton Thurgau. April 25, 1816, he married Elizabeth Oswald, with whom 
he celebrated their golden wedding April 35, 1866. From this union sprang ten children, six 
sons and four daughters. Of these, three daughters and one son were older than John. His 
mother was born July 30, 1787, in the village of Rauchlisberg, Canton Thurgau, Switzerland, 
and died in Oberaach, October 10, 1857, at the ripe age of eighty years, two months, and 
twenty davs. Jacob Oswald survived his wife's death a little less than one year, having 
departed this life September 16, 1868, at the age of seventy-nine years, eight months, and 
twenty-eight days. Their lives were uneventful and quiet, and their efforts were mainly 
directed to providing for and bringing up to useful citizenship the ten children who had been 
born to them. 

Conrad Oswald lived to the age of seventy-seven years, having spent all these years 
on the homestead where his children were born, and where he died, and where the subject 
of this sketch also first saw the light of day and spent his early years. Jacob Oswald 
was one of his sons. 

His education was that mostly obtainable by people of moderate means at that time, 
and was gotten at an ordinary common school at the place of his birth. There are no data 
concerning any of the teachers, and it is not probable that any of them ever attained any 
especial distinction in the world of science and literature. 

On leaving school, at the age of sixteen, he readily perceived that there was not room 
enough for so many in the limited old homestead, and that some must push out into 



/4l 



m m^ 




JOHX COX RAD OSWALD. . 7^ 

the wide world. It had long been his ambition to make his own way in the world, and he 
had planned accordingl}'. To learn a trade was the most practicable thing, and hence he 
cast about for a place in some manufacturing establishment. An opportunity soon offered, 
and he apprenticed liimself for two years to Godfrey Scheitlin, a manufacturer of cotton 
goods, at the city of St. Gallcn, Canton of St. Gallen, .Switzerland. The establishment 
was an extensive one, and its products were almost e.Kclusively designed for the Turkish mar- 
kets, although some of the finest goods were used in Italy. At the expiration of the ap- 
prenticeship, his employer tendered him the responsible position of overseer of his increasing 
business, which he promptly accepted and zealously maintained for five years, or till May, 1847. 
The frugal life on the paternal farm had given him fair health, considerable strength, and rea- 
sonable powers of endurance. In stature he was what may be termed a little above medium, 
of lively temperament and joyous disposition, alwavs fond of practical jokes, and free to 
enter into anything that promised fun. 

In 1847 Mr. Oswald determined to seek a home and fortune in a land that offered 
greater inducements than did the countries of Europe, and turned his thoughts towards the 
Western continent, which was attracting most of the European emigration. The most 
favored country seemed to be the United States of America, and in July of the above year 
he landed safely in New- York Git)-. Casting about for something to take hold of, he was soon 
offered the agency for a large tract of wild lands in Cabell County, Virginia, now a part of West 
Virginia. Eagerly accepting the same, he was soon on his way thither, and after a tedious 
journey by rail, canal, and wagon, reached his destination in duo time. On his arrival he 
found the land to be mostly untamed forest, the inhabitants scarce, and the comforts of life 
exceedingly limited. Rattlesnakes, copperheads, vipers, adders, and black snakes were abun- 
dant, as were also lizards of various hues and varieties. Game was in large supply, and wild 
turkeys, pheasants, deer, raccoons, foxes, wolves, and a variety of squirrels, could be had for 
the shooting. Adapting himself to the new life, and overcoming all obstacles by degrees, he 
met with fair success, and soon opened a small country store. At the same time he cleared a 
farm and added stock-raising to his pursuits. 

The great Northwest had b\- this time become well advertised. Being ever anxious to 
find a still wider sphere of acti\'ity, he sold all his holdings and business, and left the wooded 
hills of his Eastern home for his present one, starting in February, 1857, and reaching 
Minneapolis, Minnesota, in March. In May following, he formed a partnership with his 
brother, Henry Oswald, who had also come to this city, and for one year they carried on the 
mercantile business together. At the end of that year he bought out his brother's interest,- 
and carried on the business alone till March. 1859, when Matthew Nothakcr became a 
partner. For years they kept a general store on the corner of First Street and Hennepin 
Avenue, at that time the best and most central point in the city, and now the site of the 
West-Minneapolis Market-house. Three years later they sold out at a handsome profit, and 
took a few months' rest. The Civil War had now fairlv begun, and farming promised the 
safest investment and fair returns. 

In June, 1862, Oswald bought a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, then some distance 
from, but now right in, the city of Minneapolis. During the season of 1862 he raised a crop 
of tobacco with great success, and had a prospect for a jirofitable business in tiiis line for the 



74 KORTiniT.ST BIOGRAPHY. 

future. He sold ten thousand pounds in Chicago at a good round price. Encouraged by 
the first year's venture, he made plans and arrangements for raising one hundred thousand 
pounds in 1863. All went well till August 29, when there came such a frost as to destroy 
all the tobacco, with his courage for the future of tobacco culture in Minnesota. Hence he 
abandoned all further experiments with the plant, having met with sufficient loss already. 
A natural fondness for fine horses induced him to enter that field also, and he began, in a 
limited way, the breeding and raising of that noble animal to which all his life he has been 
greatly attached. His early training had qualified him for this work, and fair success crowned 
his efforts in this branch of stock-raising. As an instance of a stroke of good fortune 
in the horse line he menlii>ns the purchase, from a Rocky-Mountain trader, of a dark- 
colored, shoit-legged mare, of beautiful proportions, but of the most ugly disposition 
imaginable. He took a fancy to her because she showed excellent bre ding, and it 
remains a mystery to this day how such an animal could at that time have come from the 
Far West. He named her Black Hawk Belle, and was not disappointed in his judgment 
and expectations. Every one of her offspring, nine in number, was a trotter. Among the 
most noted were I'lora Belle, with a record of 2.26}4, and Topsy, with a 2.29}^ record. 
These he still owns. 

Having spent his boyhood and early manhood's years in a wine-growing country, he had 
picked uj) no little experience in the manufacture of wines. The times were especially fa- 
vorable to a wine-manufacturing enterprise. Foreign wines were, as a rule, of inferior qual- 
ity. The original cost was high, and the price considerably enhanced by a war-tariff, and 
thus, considering the quality, they were unsatisfactory, and unsuited to the taste of our jieople. 
Seeing the wild grape, blackberry, raspberry, cranberry, strawberry, currant, and also rhu- 
barb, in great abundance, and of excellent quality and low prices, he proceeded to build a 
wine-cellar, and to make wines from these small fruits and from the rhubarb, and established 
a business for the manufacture and sale of "J. C. Oswald's Native Wines." These, although 
but sparingly advertised, seemed to find their way into almost every section of this State. 
Many physicians of the leading cities visited him on his farm, inspected the cellars, and sam- 
pled the wines. All praised the product very high!}- ami recommended the wines, thus 
making them popular, and demands came from quarters where he had never had business 
connections or even dreamed that his wines were known. It was a very profitable enter- 
prise, and well repaid him for his loss in the tobacco culture. The native wines having 
proved a success in every particular, he was encouraged to greater enterprises. Consequently, 
in 1866, he added distilled liquors, and established the first wholesale wine and liquor business 
at that time in Minneapolis. This was enlarged from time to time, until its dimensions required 
so much time and attention that he deemed it to his interest to take a partner, in the 
]ierson of Mr. Theophil Basting, who had been with him for a number of years. Tiiis busi- 
ness still exists, under the firm name of J. C. Oswald & Co. 

Society, so called, has never taken much of his time, which, together with his energies, 
was mostly devoted to his business enterprises ; and to this he ascribes the fact that he 
justly claims to have made a success of almost every business undertaken. The principal 
backset he had was during the financial crash that enveloped the entire Western country in 
1857 and 1S58. These, being his first two years in Minnesota, were somewhat discouragin:^'. 



JOUX CONRAD OSWALD. 75 

am] his losses were considerable. Still he did not fail, never was financially embarrassed, 
and always maintained the good credit early established. For years he kept the hundred-and- 
sixty-acre farm bought in 1862. When the Monitor Plow Works were established he 
donated five acres of it to that corporation ; and when the Manitoba Railroad Company built 
its lines through the farm several acres more were used up. For this the courts awarded 
him seventeen thousand dollars. 

He had meanwhile named the place " Oak-Grove Farm.'" In 1886 he laid out eighteen 
acres of it lying north of the railroad into lots and blocks, called " Oswald's addition " to Min- 
neapolis. The rest, or a hundred and nineteen acres, he sold to a syndicate of Philadelphia 
capitalists during the summer of 1887, or e.\actly a quarter of a century after he bought it, 
for a large sum of money. These parties have platted the same into a beautiful addition, 
to which they give the picturesque title of I5ryn Mawr, after a celebrated suburb of Philadel- 
phia. They have made extensive improvements, set out trees, graded streets, and created 
parks and fountains, and all this where formerly Mr. Oswald made bricks, raised tobacco, 
manufactured wine, reared horses, and spent some of the happiest years of his lite. 

Oak-Grove Farm was the best, and certainly the most profitable, speculation he 
ever went into ; and he particularly thanks his dear wife for inducing him to keep it for the 
long period of twenty-five years, when opportunity offered to sell the estate for a royal sum. 
° During his service with Godfrey Schcitlin, in .St. Gallen, Switzerland, he had made the 
acquaintance of Miss Ursula Elizabeth Schcitlin, his employer's sister, who went to 
America also, and whom he met again on his arrival in New-York City. A former attach- 
ment was renewed, and a speedy marriage followed. This took place August 12, 1847, m 
the city of New York. His wife was born in the city of St. Gallen, Switzerland, December 
24, 1824, and is consequently only seven months and four days younger than himself. She 
has all these years shared his labors, his enterprises, his successes, his joys, and his sorrows. 
To her energy and helpful industry in his younger days, and to her wise and faithful man- 
agement since then, is due a large measure of his success in life. Her parents died while 
she was quite young, and she was early thrown upon her own resources, which, no doubt, 
helped to develop so°much of usefulness in her life. Of her ancestors little is now known. 
For the paucity of details concerning ancestry this reason is given : in Switzerland 
all births, deaths, marriages, etc., are kept recorded in the books of the parish church, and 
not, as in this country, in the family records of each household. Nine children were born to 
the Oswalds, as given here : to wit, Virginia, born November 18, 1848, at Union Ridge, Vir- 
ginia ; died Aprir24, 1849, at the same place. John Conrad, born May 20, 1850, in New-York 
City; died August 18, 1850, in New-York City. Edward Henry, born March 10, 185 1, 
in Poplar Hollow, Virginia, and died November 7, 1854, at place of birth. Ida Eliza, born 
May 19, 1852, in Poplar Hollow, Virginia; died at the same place November i, 1854. 
Matilda' Anna first saw the light of day November 9, 1855, at Poplar Hollow, Virginia. 
John Godfrev was born on the eighteenth day of June, 1858, in North Minneapolis, Minne- 
sota, and died November 10, 1862, at the place of his birth. Lizzie Sophie was born on the 
eighteenth day of June, 1861, in the city of Minneapolis. Bertha Marie was born April 7, 
i8'64, at Oak-Grove Farm, Minneapolis. Emma Netta was born at Oak-Grove Farm, Minne- 
apolis, on the eighteenth day of August, 1 865. The fifth child, Matilda Anna, was happily mar- 



y6 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

riecl, on the fourteenth day of June, 1876, to Mr. Oswald's partner in business, Mr. Theoplul 
Basting, and to them were born Mdward Andrew, on the ninth day of April, 1877, in 
Minneapolis; and I.ouis Oswald, on Good Friday, April 11, 1884, also in Minneapolis. 

Mr. Oswald and his wife were brought up in the Evangelical-Reformed Church, and have 
never changed their faith. Tiiey are not actively identified with any denomination. 

The active business so constantly engaged in left but little time to belong to and 
r.ttend societies of any kind, except the Ilarmonia Society, of which he is a charter 
member. It was organized many years ago, and constantly [)rospercd, and now owns the 
beautiful block corner of Third Street and Second Avenue, .South. It is distinctly German, 
and only a few of the original incorporators are now living. Mr. Oswald's predilections for 
society, so termed, have always been rather weak, but he enjoys the society of friends 
greatly, in a quiet manner, especially at his own fireside and table. 

Mr. Oswald is a Democrat, and always votes the ticket of that party. His influence, 
energies, and means have always gone in the interests of the party, but he has never asked 
for office in return. To what degree his efforts have contributed to the fact that Minneapolis 
is now a Democratic city, whereas for many years it was strongly Republican, might be 
an interesting question to stud)'. 

For the last four years he has held the office of Park Commissioner of this cit_\-. 
Never desirous for office, he has repeatedly declined offers of nominations, but in 1886 he 
was prevailed upon by friends to accept the nomination for State Senator, and was dui / 
elected for four years of two biennial sessions in a district which for years had been strongl,- 
Republican. The offices of court-house commissioner and citv-hall commissioner have aLo 
been added to his public functions. A member of onlv one society, social offices have not 
been in his line. Industrial enterprises being more to his taste, they now claim his time 
and attention, in the capacity of director of the Minneapolis, Sault Ste. Marie & Atlantic 
Railroad Company, as well as of the Minneapolis & Pacific Railwa\' Company, of bt)th 
of which lines he was also an incorporator. His military career has been confined to 
State militia matters only. In 1S63 the then governor of Minnesota, Henry A. Swift, com- 
missioned him captain of a company of State militia; ami the year following, his successor. 
Governor Stephen Miller, promoted him to be major of the regiment. Attending a few so- 
called musters made up the sum-total of his achievements as a warrior. 

His knowledge of the world at large has been gained largely by travel, which has 
taken him to various portions of our own land, and also to Europe. In 1874, twenty- 
seven years after leaving the home of his childhood, he decided to visit it once more, and, 
recrossing the Atlantic, was soon in the village of his birth. After seeing the old familiar 
places, he visited other countries of Europe, making such observations as a limited stay in 
each would grant. While in Switzerland he had the pleasure of attending the great national 
Schuctzciifcst, then being held at St. Gallon, where the best riflemen of the twentv- 
two cantons tried their skill, and displayed their marksmanship. Some of his travelling has 
been for pleasure, but much more of it on business ; and of late years not a little has been 
superinduced by the state of his health. This, though good in the main, has been broken 
into at times by attacks of asthma, which compelled him to seek different winter quarters, 
and to which are attributable his journeys to Florida and other parts of the sunny Soutli, to 



JOHN CONRAD OSWALD. -jy 

Colorado with its bracing climate, and to the sunset coast of California, to reach which both 
the Union Pacific, the Southern Pacific, and the Denver & Rio Grande lines have been 
made use of. The National Park, with its geysers and the Hot Springs, and Eureka 
Springs in Arkansas, have all had their share in efforts to obtain relief and rest 
from business. His life has thus been a tolerably bu.sy one, and has brought him in contact 
with many people, and carried him into many places which were new to him, and where much 
could be learned by observation and otiierwise. But if his health permits he prefers to remain 
at home, and to enjoy the results of his exertions under his own roof. 

The firm-name, as previously stated, is J. C. Oswald & Co., the company being a son- 
in-law, Mr. Theophil Basting. The wholesale wine and liquor business grew to such an extent 
that it was deemed necessary to have some one to act for Mr. Oswald in his absence on com- 
mercial tours, or otherwise, and therefore, in the year 1874, he gave a full power of attorney 
to his trusted employe Mr. Basting, who had been with him since 1868. In him he had the 
utmost confidence, and never regretted having itientified him so early and so fully with the 
business. The more important and satisfactory was this since Mr. Oswald's general health 
from severe attacks of asthma had begun to fail, and compelled him to spend the inclement 
seasons of each year in a warmer climate. In May, 18S1, he admitted Mr. Basting to the firm, 
in which he is still the junior partner. In his wdiolcsale business he always made it a point to 
be the first on the ground where new trade was to be obtained on the frontier of civilization. 
At first he had only a city trade ; ne.xt he extended it southward on the old Minnesota Central, 
now the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, as far as the southern line of the State ; 
then on the so-called Sioux-City Railroad ; and, after this, whenever a new railway was pro- 
jected, you could always find his agents just ahead of the line, as it were paving the way. The 
great Red-River Valley was visited by his agents long before any railroad was thouglit of in 
that locality. At this time there is not a railroad town in the State of Minnesota, nor in 
North and South Dakota and Montana, where his goods are not known and sold. In olden 
times all his goods had to be brought by boat to St. Paul, and hauled by team to Minneapolis. 
His purchases were always made directly from the manufacturers, without the use of the 
middle man, and hence he was enabled to sell cheap, and to compete with any and every 
body from below who dared invade his territory. He always buys for cash, sells cheap, 
and treats his customers well. 

His first location for the wholesale liquor business was on the corner of First Street 
and Hennepin Avenue, but in 1868 this had outgrown its first stand and was crowded out. 
He then moved into the then very commodious and, for that time, ample rooms under the 
Pence Opera House. A few years later and again more room was needed, and he concluded 
to build a business block for his own use, which he did in 1874, at No. 17 Washington 
Avenue, North, his present location. It is a substantial four-story building, with every facility 
to handle safely and economically the large stock of goods demanded by the trade. In 1879 
he built another equally substantial block immediatel}' adjoining his first. The location of 
the business is tlicrefore now permanent. Since the beginning of the wholesale business the 
firm has moved constanth' forward, and has never experienced any reverses. No changes of 
membership have ever taken place except the one already noted, from J. C. Oswald to J. C. 
Oswald & Co. The success, such as it has been, is attributable to close and constant atten- 



78 XORTinVEST BIOGRAPHY. 

tion to business on the part of both partners, but of late years esj>ecially of the junior 
partner; to a thorough knowledge of the business on the part of both partners; to that 
sleepless vigilance which has kept the firm always in the van; to an intelligent system which 
has long extended into every part of the business, and by which every employe knows 
exactly what is his duty ; and, lastly, to fair and generous treatment of its employes as well 
as Its customers. 



DANIEL WESLEY INGERSOLL. 

THE settlement of the great West and Northwest was indebted to the State of New 
Jersey for some of its wisest and most successful leaders, men trained to diligence and 
versatility in the rural counties of the little Garden State. 

Daniel Wesley Ingersoll was born June 12, 18 12, in the lovely village of Newton, the 
shire town of Sussex Count)', New Jersey, his father having been one of the industrious 
farmers who in those early days made their homes in the hill-country near the Kittatinnv 
Mountains. At the age of fourteen he became the clerk of John S. I'otwin, a prominent 
local merchant ; and when this gentleman removed his business to Burlington, Vermont, two 
.years later, young Ingersoll went there with him, exchanging the fair Delaware Valley for 
the noble scenery and bracing air of Lake Champlain and the Green Mountains. Before he 
had reached the age of twent3--one, although without any capital save his indomitable spirit 
and tireless industry, Mr. Ingersoll became a partner in the firm, and sole manager of the 
business. Three years later he moved to New-York City and entered the wholesale dr)'- 
goods trade, the firm-name being Truman Smith & Ingersoll, and subsequently Draper, 
Knox & Ingersoll. In 1854 his health began to fail, and Messrs. Draper and Knox bought 
out his interest, receiving from him bonds that he would not engage in the same branch of 
trade in New York. During this period he had so far familiarized himself with commercial 
law that he was offered a partnership with Archibald Hilton, then a prominent city attorney. 
At the suggestion of his physician, Mr. Ingersoll visited St. Paul in 1855, and a year later 
he opened a dry-goods store there, bringing his family West in 1857. In i860 he erected 
on Bridge Square a three-story stone block, at a cost of forty thousand dollars, using the 
stone excavated from the basement for the walls and foundation. Ilis firm has ever since 
occupied this building, and is the oldest chy -goods establishment in continuous operation in 
Minnesota. The city had fewer than ten thousand inhabitants when this edifice was built, 
and its construction was regarded as a perilous venture ; but tlie metropolis has expanded 
until the block now holds a valuable central position, and the land, which originallv cost 
eleven thousand dollars, is now worth seven-fold that amount. 

In public life and the great enterprises for developing the Northwest Mr. Ingersoll has 
taken a notable part. For twelve years he served on the St. Paul School Board, holding its 
presidency for some time. In 1867 Governor Marshall appointed him president of the 
State Reform School, and this responsible position he has held ever since, making a close 
and interested study of all kinds of reformatory work. When the St. Paul & Sioux-Citv 





^ 




c:^^^ 




GEORGE AUGUSTUS BRACK ETT. 79 

Railroad was preparing for its career of usefulness, Mr. Ingersoll took a prominent part in 
securing the necessary legislation, and became its first treasurer. He also joined heartily 
in the organization of the St. Paul Warehouse and Elevator Company, and is now its vice- 
president, having held the 'office of president when it started. The St. Paul Chamber of 
Commerce numbered him among its original incorporators, and he still retains a directorship 
therein. He also held for many years an office in the Minnesota State Agricultural Society. 
In 1863 he made an unsuccessful campaign for the mayoralty of St. Paul, running on the 
Republican ticket. 

His deep interest in Sunday-school and temperance work has been actively evinced for 
many years, and has been productive of great good in those directions. 

Mr. Ingersoll practically withdrew from active business in 1884, and is devoting iiis 
ripe experience and unabated energy to the advancement of St. Paul's interests with strong 
public spirit and proven sagacity. 

He was married in 1S36 to Miss Harriet Smith, daughter of Truman .Smith, of Brook- 
lyn, New York. She died in 1857. Five of her children are still living. In 1859 he was 
married to Miss Marian M. Ward, a sister of Professor Henry A. Ward, of Rochester, New 
York. She is still living, and has five children. 

Mr. Ingersoll has made a deep impress on the advancing life of the Northwest in com- 
merce, politics, finance, and morals alike, and the results of his earnest study and labor will 
be apparent for many a year to come. As a man, a citizen, and a Christian, he faithfully 
discharged the duties devolved upon him, and was not content with that, but always reached 
forward in search of new fields of endeavor and usefulness. It is men like this one who 
have given Minnesota her proud place in the Northwestern empire ; and their names should 
never be forgotten by the millions who have entered into the enjoyment of the common 
weal provided by their sagacity. 



GEORGE AUGUSTUS BRACKETT. 

FOR many years the name of George Augustus Brackett has occupied a prominent place 
before the people of the Northwest. Mr. Brackett was born in Weston, Aroostook 
County, Maine, September 16, 1836. He is the son of Henry H. Brackett, born 18 10, and 
Mary S. Prescott, born 1814. He received his education at the common district school of 
his native village. At the age of twenty he came West and located for the time being at 
.St. Anthony, Minnesota. 

At the breaking out of the Rebellion he entered as a private the First Minnesota Regi- 
ment. For conspicuous bravery displayed in the face of danger, he was rapidly promoted 
to responsible positions in the army. At the close of the war l\Ir. Brackett was among the 
foremost to devote his time and energy to the development of his adopted State. He has 
entered on many pursuits and has been successful in each. In him are combined in an 
eminent degree the qualities of the soldier, statesman, and philanthropist. In his business 
Career he has acquired an independent competency, and is regarded one of the most sue- 



80 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

cessful business men in the Northwest. Though still in the meridian of life, his reputation 
may safely repose on the many achievements he has won. 

Some few years since Mr. Brackett entertained at Lake Minnetonka, in his elegant 
summer residence, the survivors of the I'irst Minnesota Regiment. 

The subjoined extract in reference to the occasion may not be inappropriate in connec- 
tion with this brief sketch : — 

" More and more as the years go by, and the names of the old comrades drop from the lists of 
the living, are the meetings and re-unions of the survivors of the Civil War charged with solemn 
interest. Tlie re-union of the old First Minnesota Regiment at tlie summer home of George A. 
Brackett on the shore of Lake Minnetonka was the most satisfactory since the war, with ilie possible 
exception of tlie one at the national i\. .\. R. encampment in Minneapolis four years ago. Never 
before has tliere been such a gathering of the veterans of the old thirst, and never were all the cir- 
cumstances attending the gathering of a more satisfactorv nature. 

••The day on the whole was a fine one for an out-of-doors meeting. It was not until the after- 
noon was well spent that the driz/liiig rain commenced. About one luindred of the veterans were 
there, and these with their families and in\ited guests made up a company of nearlv four hundred. 
But George Brackett as an entertainer was equal to the occasion. Most of the party arrived at the 
lake at ten o'clock in a special train on the Manitoba road. The City of St. Louis, under command 
of Captain John Johnson, made her initial trip of the year, and carried the party to Orono Point. Tlie 
trip over the lake was enlivened by music from the Plummer Post Drum Corps. As the veterans 
landed they marched to inartinl music with the battered war flags of the old First, the old association 
banner chronicling the battles in which they had taken such a glorious part, and the white clover 
symbol of the Second Army Corps at the head of their ranks. George Brackett, the entertainer, 
stood at the head of the bank, and shook hands with every one of them. The grounds had quite the 
appearance of the camp. There was a large pavilion where the meeting was to be, and also a capa- 
cious tent for a dining-hall. with several smaller tents adjacent to it. 

••First thing in order was the business meeting. Judge William Lochren presided. In his 
opening remarks the judge e.xpressed his opinion that much speech-making was not enjoyed at such 
meetings, and so he would make his brief. The judge is not given to humor, and yet he made such 
felicitous allusions to army life, and especially camp life, that there were roars of laughter. He 
referred eloquently to General Gorman, who, as colonel, started out with the First on its career of 
glor)% and asserted that it was largely to him that tiie regiment made that important contribution to 
history on the bloody field of Gettysburg. A letter was read of General H. H. Siblev, e.\-pressing his 
regret at not being able to be present on such an occasion. There was also an interesting epistle 
from FMward S. Past of Nebraska. It was brimful of poetry and humor and pathos. There were 
likewise letters of regret from P. H. Kelly of St. Paul and M. R. Bradley. .\ notable contribution 
in this line was the letter of regret from Charles Carleton Coffin, the Boston historian. Bv reason of 
its historic interest it is given in full, as follows : — 

'"It would be especially enjoyable for me to meet with you, because it was my privilege to make 
the acquaintance of the officers of your regiment early in the war, and because of the part it per- 
formed on the field of Gettysburg. Possibly there were other regiments just as brave, but Provi- 
dence, w-hich orders human affairs, so brought about events that on the evening of the id of |ul\, 
1862, you were able to render immortal service to your country. Historians have generallv regardetl 
tlie repulse of Pickett as the turning-point — the high-water mark of the Rebellion — but a careful 
Study of the battle, especially of the Confederate side, lias brought me to a difJerent conclusion : (t.Jt 



GEORGE AUGUSTUS BRACK ETT. 8i 

the decisive moment was when the First Minnesota went down the slope of the ridge and by a terri- 
ble sacrifice of life, standing there like a wall of adamant, rolled back Longstreet's troops in their 
last attack, holding the ground till the troops of the Sixth and Twelfth Corps arrived. In a volume 
entitled "Marching to Viciory," soon to be published by Harper Brothers, I have endeavored to set 
forth the service rendered by the First Minnesota, and have regarded the repulse nf Pickett as the 
beginning of the ebb tide of the Rebellion. The charge of Pickett could have but one ending. It 
was a foregone conclusion that it would result in disaster to him. Not so the attack of Longstreet 
on the second day. He hurled his brigades forward with the utmost impetuosity, intending to sweep 
all before him. He threw in every regiment at his command, and had no troops in reserve. He 
wielded his heaviest blow at sundown on the second day. His last aggressive stroke fell on the First 
Minnesota, and when his line in the field east of Codori's liouse came still under your volleys, to my 
mind it was the high tide of the Rebellion, a great turning-point in human affairs.' 

"There was read a letter from W. A. Croffut, the pioneer journalist of Minnesota, now a Wash- 
ington editor. Mr. Croffut was editor of the Express at the beginning of the war. The letter was 
probably one of the wittiest that the literature of the Rebellion has furnished. Nearly every sen- 
tence of it elicited a roar of laughter. The most staid of the old soldiers were affected by it. It 
was as follows: — 

" ' I write to you as a sort of brevet comrade, and trust that you will admit me to that distinction 
after I have stated the reason of my claim to veterinary classification. I plunged early in the fray. 
resolved to win the laurels of a hero. About the time that Sumter was fired upon, at a meeting called 
to meet in front of the express ofifice at the St. Anthony end of the suspension bridge, I made a 
speech from the balcony to the citizens, following Heaton and preceding Lochren, I think, and in 
those hectic remarks I called upon the boys to throw their bodies into the deadly breach and die for 
their country ; I told them they would never have a better chance, and implored them to follow me. 
They yelled that they would, fell into line, and struggled down to Fort Snelling, after a little prelimi- 
nary manoeuvring in a hall altogether too small for our evolutions. At Fort Snelling I saw Gov- 
ernor Ramsey, whom I knew first rate, and told him 1 jiad brought the boys down. He thanked me ; 
I had not long to wait for my reward, for at their unanimous request, expressed in cheers, he commis- 
sioned me to be third corporal. I well remember the pride that swelled my heart as I buckled on 
my first canteen. At Fort Snelling we stayed for two blessed months, drilling, and cultivating a war- 
like frenzy, and learning the manual of the musket and the fine-tooth comb. I never saw such cour- 
age as we all exhibited. We were impatient to rush to the sanguinary front. Suddenly I heard that 
a young fellow who had gone South from our neighborhood had had a horse shot under him in Mis- 
souri ; next day I heard that another had had his ear cut off by a rebel cavalryman in Kentucky, and 
another fellow, named Johnson, was missing altogether. This announcement set me thinking. It 
thrilled me with a new impulse. So when the morning came on which we were to muster for three 
years, I thoughtfully sought Colonel Gorman, and I said, "Colonel, I don't want to be gluttonous 
about this thing. There are so many others that are just crying to go that it seems selfish for me to 
insist on it. There is room at the front for only about so many, and if I go, somebody else will have 
to stay at home. I am not naturally a quarrelsome person. Anyhow, somebody has got to stay at 
home and raise the crops and take care of the children, and, though it is the less glorious service, and 
brings no shoulder straps with it, I believe I will sacrifice myself and stay." So I bravely stood in 
the gap behind. But I always had a good deal of curiosity, and within a fortnight I followed the 
regiment to Washington. Great was my disappointment to find that it had already crossed the long 
bridge. I sought General Scott, got from his orderly, Drake DeKay, a pass within our lines, written 
in letters as big as a cartridge, and over I went on the afternoon of July 20. I walked about a dozen 



82 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

miles, I should think, when I found McDowell sitting on a bank under a scrub oak, surrounded by 
his staff, and fiom some of the aides I learned where the First Minnesota was. 1 pressed on, and at 
one o'clock in the morning I found tlie regiment, and the St. Anthony company was asleep on a side 
hill in the niidsi of campfires. The boys were just getting up and cooking their coffee. They said 
they were going somewhere, they did not know exactly where, some sort of a picnic. It was tiien 
thought that the war was about over, and I thougiit, as they might have been invited to Richmond, I 
would go along. Before we came to anything surprising we had marched, I reckoned, about twenty 
miles under a Congo sun. But the ne.xt four hours were a terror to me, and have hung upon my life 
like a nightmare ever since. I climbed a sapling in the woods, and saw a rebel regiment break and 
run ; then the boys yelled. We filed to the right, piled up our surplus accoutrements, marched through 
a sunken roadway, and suddenly were under fire. I had no gun, but I did not want any gun. What 
I wanted was a shield or a parapet, or a hole in the ground, or something that I could use. I knew I 
should get lost and killed if I left the regiment, so I stuck by, carefully dodging everything that seemed 
to be inquiring for me. I was frigiitened, but not scared. Cannon-balls bumped across the hill in a 
lazy sort of a wav, and now and then a shell exploded. Finally bullets began to spit at us, and they 
fell like hot hail. The air looked like an iron foundry. I waited an hour or two, trying to get out of the 
battle. I was not scared, but I seemed superlluous. 1 appeared to be in the way. It seemed as if I 
could do more real good in ilie hallowed walks of peace than 1 could in that scene of confusion. As 
soon as I crept under an ambulance it started off on a run. .\s soon as I got well fixed under an ammuni- 
tion wagon, it w'ould blow up. 1 got behind the chimney of the Henry house, when the top was knocked 
off, and covered a red-headed Indiana captain at my side with soot and lime and mortification. I whis- 
pered to myself, " The post of safety is the post of danger," and lit out for the rear on the run. I was 
not scared, but I was obviously useless, and I saw that if I was ever to carve my name upon the scroll of 
peaceful fame, no time was fb be lost. There seemed to be more firing in the rear -than in the front. 
I never saw such a disgraceful lack of stone fences or anything to get behind as there was on that 
field. Presently I said to a fellow who was squatting down near me, and firing at the opposite hill, 
" Mere I don't do that ! You draw their fire this way. What regiment is this ? '" " First Minnesota," 
said he. I saw it was no use trying to escape, so I offered up a light prayer, and surrendered myself 
to my doom. For the next hour I was of some sad service, carrying off the wounded, and helping 
Dr. Stewart on volunteer aid in Sudley ciuirch, then become a hospital. Over that scene of horror I 
prefer to draw a veil, ihe pulpit an apothecary shop, the communion table an amputation table, and 
writhing on the floor two hundred wounded and dying men. Suddenly, about d.uU, Stewart turned 
to me and said, " Are you going ? " " No, I'll wait for the regiment," 1 answ'ered. '• It has gone by 
half an hour," he said. "If you are ever going, you had better go now, for the Rebs will be here in 
a few minutes ; they can take care of the wounded, no doubt. I shall stay, but you had better over- 
take the regiment." I took his advice. I found a wandering artillery horse, and mounted him, and 
crossed Sudley ford in a run ; and with a revolver strapped around a linen duster and a sabre I had 
picked up, I must have been a picturesque sight. Three or four miles ahead I overtook the regiment, 
and with the aid of tiie chaplain we got Major Dike on the horse, where he rested his wound. That 
nigiit we spent at Centreville, scattering about in the dark. On reaching Washington the next day, I 
found that I had been made custodian of seven pocketbooks and four watches by members of the 
First. I remember a sergeant coming to me on the field during the lull in the artillery firing, and 
handing me all his valuables. " You know where my folks live," he said, tears welling up in his 
eyes, "and I know that if anybody gets away from here you will." This showed the confidence the 
regiment had in my prudence. I do not say these things boastfully, but my being selected as a fire- 
proof safe on the field of battle is apart of the history of that time, and I fear it was not gener.iily 



GEORGE AUGUSTUS BRACKETT. 83 

noliced. It is hardly necessary to say that there were moments when I did not have the confidence 
wiiich I seem to lKi\'e ins[)ired in others. Hoping the boys will have a deliglitful re-union, and that 
they will all be as candid as their brevet comrade, I am most cordially, etc' 

"Judge Lochren read the letter, and did full justice to it. E.K-Governor Ramsey was in the 
audience. He got up right away and said, ' That is the wittiest thing in war literature. There ought 
to be a vote of thanks to Mr. Croffut for the entertainment he has afforded us.' But this only drew 
attention to the governor, who, as the State executive at the time the First was mustered, had a very 
close connection with it, and is now an honorary member of the association. There were loud calls 
for Governor Ramsey, and the old pioneer had to come to the front. His remarks were entirely un- 
premeditated, but of the sort that are always so welcome and appropriate at an occasion of this sort. 
' What a blessed-looking lot of boys you were twenty-five years ago,' he said. ' But now you are 
all getting old.' ' No, we are not. Nothing of the kind. We are just as young as ever,' called out 
the venerable chaplain. Dr. E. D. Neill. The speaker went on to humorously characterize the disad- 
vantage under which war preparations were made in those days in the infancy of tlie commonwealth. 
'This State was one of the poorest places under God's high liea\-en,' continued the governor. ' When 
I was inaugurated, there was six hundred dollars in the State treasury, and we had a debt of six hun- 
dred thousand dollars. Our soldiers did not make the stylish appearance that the volunteers coming 
from the wealthier East did, but no braver men went to the front. I know all about it. I did not do 
any fighting, but I stayed at home and sent all my wife's relatives.' The governor gave a humorous 
account of the organization of the First Regiment. They were all down at Fort Snelling, and the 
governor, to have a little fun, told his adjutant to take Gorman to one side and say that the govertior 
wanted to appoint him (Gorman) colonel of the regiment, but was afraid he was so much of a Bour- 
bon that he would go off and take the regiment over on the other side. The adjutant did so, and 
Gorman took it in earnest. 'My God,' said he, 'does Ramsey think that? I can assure him there 
is no danger whatever.' And then when it came time to give the officers their commissions and send 
the troops away, the governor, in a little speech, intrusted the flags to Colonel Gorman, telling him to 
bring them back without a stain, and all that. And then he turned to Major Dike, who, from the heat or 
something else, was a little indisposed. [Loud laughter.] He made the same speech to him about bring- 
ing the flags back without a stain, etc. The major evidently did not catch the full significance of the 
allusions to staining the battle flags, and he rose up and called out rather thickly, ' Say, governor, 
if you don't want those flags stained, you'd better lock 'em up, and we'll have some others.' And so 
the old First marched off to glory. Resolutions of thanks and esteem totlie host, George A. Brackett, 
were passed, and a copy of the same, printed on white satin and elegantly framed, presented to him. 
Mr. Brackett made a neat speech of thanks." 



84 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 



EDWIN S. JONES. 

EDWIN S. JONES, the subject of this sketch, was born June 3, 1828, at Chaplin, 
Windham County, Connecticut. His father, David Jones, was of Welsh descent, and 
his mother, Percy (Russ) Jones, was of English ancestry. His father was a thrifty farmer, 
who tilled one of the hill farms of Connecticut, where an industry, energy, and economy 
were begotten which stamped the children with \igor. His mother died when he was seven 
years old, and his father when he was a boy of but ten years. A brother, David W., seven 
years older, and Edwin S., were the only children, and for thirteen years after their father's 
death they lived together, and carried on the home farm. Subsequently the brother came to 
Minnesota, where he resided until his death in April, 1885, being by occupation a farmer, a 
power of strength to all good causes in the communit)- where he lived, and an exemplifica- 
tion of the great fact that "an honest man is the noblest work of God." 

By reason of the death of his parents the education of Edwin .S. was simply that which 
could be obtained from the schools of his neighborhood, fifty \ears or more ago ; but he has 
always been a great reader of the best authors, in his boyhood years reading all books which 
came within his reach, and by his perseverance and determination forcing his education out 
of every opportunity which presented itself. And this habit of reading acquired in early 
life has always remained with him, — a constant source of pleasure and instruction, idti- 
mately giving him more than most men obtain from a college diploma ; and in his maturer 
years, when this sketch is written, his readings of fiction, biography, and travel, together 
with his varied and frequent travels through this country and Europe, have given him avast 
fund of information. 

Although possessed of means sufficient to satisfy every caprice, he has adhered to the 
modest and unobtrusive habits of boyhood, — a Puritan in tastes, inflexible in orthodoxy, 
but gentle, kind, and considerate toward all, and ever anxious to help the young who show 
pluck and good habits. But all of the successes of his life he attributes to the industry 
and determination which he acquired while as an orphan boy he was trying to force his way 
in the workl. These qualities have ever been his capital, and he has esteemed them of higher 
value than any dollars or lands he may have possessed. Motherless at seven, and fatherless 
at ten, every faculty was called into requisition ; and these misfortunes which have wrecked 
many a child only served to develop and strengthen him. But we must not omit mention 
of the fact of his teaching school, commencing when he was sixteen years old, — that 
schoolmaster experience which has developed many of New England's best young men. 

His first trip away from home was in the year 1848, when he went from Connecticut to 
Indiana as agent for the publishing-house of Henry Bill & Co., of Norwich, Connecticut. 
For three seasons he had charge of the sale of the publications of this house in Indiana, 
taking with him from Connecticut as assistants several parties of young men. In this under- 
taking his business habits, which have since marked him as possessed of sound judgment 
and a good financier, manifested themselves, and led to his "going West." 








UZ^r 



EDWIN S. JONES. 85 

In the autumn of 1853 he was married to Harriet M. James, of his native town ; and in 
the spring of 1854 they came to Minnesota, settling in Minneapolis, then but a straggling 
frontier village, the Indian title to most of the lands of the present populous city of Min- 
neapolis not then being extinguished. Before leaving Connecticut he had commenced 
reading law in the office of Hon. J. H. Carpenter, at Willimantic, Connecticut. Judge Car- 
penter is now (in 1889) an honored judge at Madison, Wisconsin, and dean of the law 
department of the University of Wisconsin. On reaching Minnesota Mr. Jones completed 
his legal studies in the office of Hon. Isaac Atwater, and was admitted to the bar in 1855, 
and continued to practise with Judge Atwater until 1857. He remained in practice until 
1870, excepting the time when he was in the service of the Union Army in the War of the 
Rebellion. During this time he was for three years judge of the Probate Court of Henne- 
pin Count)-, also for a time chairman of the Board of Supervisors of the town of Minne- 
apolis, and for two years a member of the city council of the city of Minneapolis, all of 
which positions were filled with credit, and marked with strong business sense. 

He was a participant in the War of the Rebellion, and was for a season Captain and 
Commissary of Subsistence in the Union forces, in the Department of the Gulf, at New 
Orleans, Port Hudson, Mobile, Baton Rouge, Shreveport, etc. During this time his services 
were specially valuable to the government, his careful and economical management saving- 
large sums to the United States ; and on this account, before the close of the war, he was 
breveted as Major. 

On returning from the war he again engaged in the practice of law until the year 1870, 
when he founded the Hennepin-County Savings Bank, of which he became president, — a 
position which he has continuously held, and at this writing (in the year 1889) still retains. 
This bank has always been regarded as one of the soundest banking institutions in the North- 
west ; and its management has been marked with a prudence and caution which have made 
it one of the safest banks in Minnesota. 

In politics Judge Jones was originally a Whig, and on the dissolution of that party he 
attended the very first Republican meeting held in Hennepin County, and has ever since 
been a stanch Republican. 

His first wife died after twelve years of married life, and in September, 1866, he was 
married to Miss Abigail J. James, sister of his first wife, who died in April, 1872. In May, 
1877, he married his present wife, Mrs. Susan C. Moore, a daughter of Captain Charles C. 
and Susan C. Stinson of Goffstown, New Hampshire. Nine children have been born to 
Judge Jones, of whom only three are now living : to wit, Ellen Jones Carleton, born Sep- 
tember I, 1858, wife of Frank H. Carleton, a practising attorney at Minneapolis; David 
Percy, born July 6, i860, a graduate of the State University of Minnesota; and William O., 
born Feb. 15, 1870. Edwin S. Jones, jun., a most promising young man, a graduate of 
Amherst College, was born July 20, 1856, and died July 27, 1883. 

But in giving the above summary of some of the occurrences in the life of Judge Jones, 
the important events of his life and his real character have not yet been touched upon. 
Although ranked among the best business men of Minneapolis, of sound judgment, honest 
and straightforward, quick to see a business opportunity, and ready to forecast the future, 
it has nevertheless been in the line of benevolent and moral activity that Judge Jones stands 



86 ' NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

to-day conspicuous in this community. As a Christian man his influence has been felt. 
.Although he has become possessed of large wealth, and might easily have been one of the 
niillionnaires of the State, his larger wealth consists in what he has given to advance educa- 
tion, morality, and religion. By his generosity and example, and his i)romotion of those 
objects which advance mankind morally and religiously, and his espousal of those practical 
and educational enterprises which reach beyond the present into the future, Judge Jones 
occupies a position far higher than those who have turned life into a mere struggle for 
wealth or public position. In the quality of exercising a far-sighted benevolence during his 
lifetime, and expending wealth with a wise business discernment, and acting on the theory 
that riches are a trust, not to be piled up in an individual fortune for personal gratification, 
but used for the promotion of moral and religious advancement, he occupies an exceptional 
position. In a section of the country where the acquiring of wealth, either for the pur- 
poses of hoarding or display, has become far too common, he has displayed all those quali- 
ties which mark the successful business man, and has added to them that nobler and larer 
quality of investing his means in those enterpiises which help mankintl, and will gi\c divi- 
dends to humanity long after he shall have passed away. With purse, time, and business 
judgment, his strongest efforts have been to advance the kingdom of Jesus Christ. An 
unflinching, uncompromising Christian, of stanch Orthodox faith, he has always felt it a 
pleasure, as well as a duty, to use liberally his money and time to promote Christianity. 

Most men who do works of benevolence do them by their wills after their wealth can no 
longer serve them, but Judge Jones has not thus put it off. As a part of his every-day 
business he has made his gifts of money and time. No one knows of his private charities, 
of his many substantial gifts to church and educational enterprises, and acts of private 
charity, except as they are accidentally told by the recipient. These matters he never 
mentions even to his intimate friends, but of his public gifts a few are known. 

He has successfully carried out his idea of an old ladies' home, and home for aged min- 
isters and their wives ; and in iS86 he presented to the Woman's Christian Association of 
Minneapolis, for this jnirpose, a beautiful property on the shores of Cedar Lake, a hand- 
some suburb of Minneapolis, which cannot be estimated at less than a hundred thousand 
dollars, and which, in the years to come, will be a most munificent propert\- in itself. 

Judge Jones is, and for a considerable time has been, a trustee of the Western Minne- 
sota Academy at Montevideo, and of the academy at E.xcelsior, also a trustee of Carleton Col- 
lege at Northfield, Minnesota, and of the Chicago Theological Seminary, and a corpo- 
rate member of the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions. To all of 
these institutions, as well as many lesser religious and educational societies, he has been a 
systematic and constant giver. 

He has been a pronounced believer in education and Christianity as forces in the 
world, but particularly among the more unfortunate people of the South. For his gifts 
to the free kindergarten for colored children at Atlanta, Georgia, it was named the Jones 
Kindergarten. At All-Healing Springs in North Carolina, four miles from King's Moun- 
tain, and near the South-Carolina line, he maintains a school for young ladies, with a corps 
of several teachers, — " The Jones Seminary," — the special object being to give an edu- 
cation to the white girls of the mountain regions of that section of the South. The object 



ASA E. JOHNSON. ^-j 

of the institution is purely charitable. For those who can afford to pay, a nominal fee, 
barely sufficient to cover board and fuel, is charged ; for those who can pay nothing, no 
charge is expected, the design being to maintain a free seminary in a region where educa- 
tion is the greatest need. The institution is crowded with young ladies, and an opportunity 
which they would not otherwise possess is afforded them. 

But the space accorded this article is taken. While the life of the subject of this 
sketch does not show great things, as things are measured by most men, it shows the char- 
acter of the man. To him his faculties and his wealth have been a trust, confided to him, 
not for personal gain, but to do the work of the Master ; and his hope and faith have been 
that, when the time comes when he shall cross the threshold of this life, he may hear the 
plaudit, " Well done, good and faithful servant." 



ASA E. JOHNSON. 

THE greatest results in life are usually attained by simple means and the exercise of 
ordinary qualities. The common life of every day, with its cares, necessities, and 
duties, affords ample opportunity for acquiring experience of the best kind ; and its most 
beaten paths provide the true worker with abundant scope for effort and room for self- 
improvement. The great high-road of human welfare lies along the old highway of stead- 
fast well-doing; and they who are the most persistent, and work in the true spirit, will 
invariably be the most successful. 

Fortune has often been blamed for her blindness ; but fortune is not so blind as men 
are. Those who look into practical life will find that fortune is usually on the side of the 
industrious, and that success treads on the heels of every right effort. Common sense and 
perseverance are the qualities necessary to secure success. 

Among the many well-known physicians of whom Minneapolis is proud. Dr. Asa E. 
Johnson holds a foremost rank ; and the preliminary remarks prefacing this sketch of his 
life are in every sense applicable to him. During a quarter of a century or more he has 
>minterruptedly, and in a spirit of quiet and unaffected gentleness, scattered everywhere the 
fruits of his professional skill. 

Dr. Asa E. Johnson was born at Bridgewater, Oneida County, New York, March i6, 
1825. In boyhood. Dr. Johnson enjoyed only such advantages of education as an irregular 
attendance at the public school afforded. Being a natural student, however, he early 
discovered a taste and capacity for the most difficult studies, such as history, grammar, and 
mathematics. He was not only a natural student, but a practical one. His early concep- 
tions were not confined to books only, but to what he saw. He was a naturalist from child- 
hood. Nature was to him the grand storehouse of knowledge, and he subsequently became 
her pet student. It was this love of nature which led him to suggest the organization of 
the Minnesota Academy of Natural Sciences. Dr. Johnson has been for many years an 
efficient president of that institution, serving on committees of various natural sciences in 



88 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

different departments, as entomology, geology, comparati\c niiatomy, cr\ptoi;amic Ijotany, 
etc. He classified and identified eight hundred species in mycological botany. Among the 
classifications, Dr. Johnson is the discoverer of seventeen new species peculiar to the State 
of Minnesota. He also discovered at Palmer Lake Mound, at Brooklyn, Minnesota, the 
skeleton of a "mound-builder." This curiosity is in the cabinet of the Minnesota Academy 
of Natural Sciences. 

In 1849, Dr. Johnson began his preliminary study of medicine as a homoeopathic physi- 
cian in the office of Dr. Kellogg. Sub.sequently, he devoted three years as a student to the 
same school of practice, under the tuition of Dr. Erastus Ring, in Otsego County, New 
York. Having become dissatisfied with his homoeopathic experience, he discarded that 
school of medical science, and enrolled himself as a student of allopathy in the State Uni- 
versity of New York, where he graduated in 185 1. Dr. Johnson is the oldest practitioner 
in the city of Minneapolis. As a public man, the doctor has been called to the office of 
county physician, and filled the responsible position on the board of health ; all the duties 
of which were discharged with an aim to public good, and to the entire satisfaction of those 
who clothed him with official power. 

Dr. Johnson was married to a most estimable lady, Hannah Russell, March 16, 1853. 
They are the parents of one child, Rosina. 

Though Dr. Johnson is eminently a domestic man, ardently attached to his familj-, yet 
his large sympathies and his desire for benefiting others have led him to take active part in 
the matters of all useful and scientific pursuits. The great tendenc}' of his life has been to 
activity in socict}-. The public at large scarce owes less to his zealous scientific and useful 
instruction than his numerous patients owe to his great professional ability. Although 
ha\ing passed the meridian of human existence, Dr. Johnson is still actively engaged in his 
profession, antl in the faithful discharge of all those duties incumbent upon him as a patriotic 
citizen. 

In personal appearance he is a man of robust i^hysique, erect, and moves and acts with 
dignity and deliberation. 

Such is an outline of the life and character of one of the most eminent and respected 
physicians of the Northwest ; and, to judge by his physical and mental condition, one might 
safely predict that the day is yet far distant when he will seek repose from his labor. 




y/ /^ ^c^^i^Ucn^-^(jJ^ 



WILLIAM HENRY LAUDERDALE. 89 



WILLIAM HENRY LAUDERDALE. 

PRACTICAL industry, wisely and vigorously applied, never fails of success. It carries 
a man onward and upward, brings out his individual character, and powerfully stimu- 
lates the action of others. Honorable industry always travels the same road with enjoy- 
ment and duty, and progress is impossible without it. It is this indomitable spirit of 
industry which has laid the foundations and built up the industrial greatness of the North- 
west. The vigorous growth of Minnesota and adjacent territory has been mainly the result 
of the free industrial energy of individuals. The career of William Henry Lauderdale, the 
subject of this sketch, furnishes an interesting illustration of the triumph of perseverance 
over difficulties in the pursuit of business. In whatever capacity he acted he has been suc- 
cessful, because he acted with his whole strength and soul. 

In Theodore Parker's frank and .sympathetic analysis of the character of George Wash- 
ington, he speaks of his skill and good fortune in the selection and purchase of real estate. 
In this respect William Henry Lauderdale resembles the Father of his Country. He has 
an inspiration for land, and he delights to tell his friends what the Northwest must be in 
the course of years, if that vast region is opened up by wise and generous legislation. He 
has none of the small arts that would dwarf great enterprises by counting the profits of 
those who led in them. He justly believes that where there are large risks there should be 
large recompense. 

The Lauderdale family originated in fair Scotland, in the southwestern part, near Par- 
ley, where John of that ilk dwelt about the time of the American Revolution. His son 
Francis was born October 22, 1786, in the royal old city of Edinburgh; and when about 
fourteen years old he voyaged across the broad Atlantic, and landed at New York. Not 
long afterward his brothers, Edward and Robert, followed him to the New World, and after 
a perilous voyage, during which the yellow fever broke out among the passengers, they were 
detained at the quarantine station below New York for six weeks.. With true Caledonian ' 
loyalty, the young pioneer of the family eluded the vigilance of the officers, and visited the 
doleful captives, bringing them such delicacies as the Empire City afforded. Francis and 
Edward afterwards engaged in the tailor's trade together, and in a few years moved to Cam- 
bridge, New York. Subsequently Francis went to White Creek, ten miles east of Cambridge, 
and began business on his own account. He married Miss Polly Stewart, about the year 
1814, and soon afterward opened a store in Burlington, Vermont, where for several years he 
conducted a pro.sj)erous trade. Once more this much-travelling Scot changed his location, 
and settled at Groton, New York. Here he owned a pleasant homestead, which he lost, with 
nearly all his other property, by signing a note for a friend as security, at a time when un- 
fortunate debtors were sent to prison. 

Dr. Walter Elliott Lauderdale of Geneseo, New York, says: "My much-respected 
uncle Francis was always a welcome guest at the home of my childhood in Cambridge, 
Washington County, New York. I remember that he once presented to my mother a very 



90 KORTH]\-EST BIOGRAPHY. 

handsome china tea-set. She was very choice of it, and when she died, at the age of eighty- 
four, a large part of it still remained on her shelves. It was distributed among her daugh- 
ters. After the death of my sister, Mary Dailey, my daughter Frances secured three pieces, 
and intends to keep them for a family memento." 

The maternal great-grandfather of William Henry Lauderdale lived to the great age of 
one hundred and nine years ; and when he had passed his first century of existence, he went 
out into the hayfield and mowed a swath of grass a rod long, to show his sons that the vigor 
of earlier days yet remained in his arms. At that time his eyesight was perfectly good, and 
continued so nearly up to the time of his death. John, the son of this hale centenarian, was 
born in England, and his wife's name was Margaret. Their daughter, Mary Stewart, the mother 
of the subject of our sketch, was born in Washington County, New York, February 20, 1788. 

William Henry Lauderdale was born August 15, 1830, in the town of York, 
Livingston County, New York. After a scanty common-school education, he learned 
the tailor's trade from his father; and from his nineteenth to his twenty-first year 
he worked at this industry, first at Sandusky and then at Woostcr, Ohio. In 1854 he 
entered upon the then adventurous journey to Minnesota, going by railway to Scales Mound, 
and thence by wagon to Galena, Illinois. From that point (the home of General Grant), he 
continued the journey on the steamboat Nominee, which sank somewhere below St. Paul, 
and left its passengers to spend two dreary nights and a day on the shore. Then the 
steamer War Eagle came puffing up the stream, and conveyed the shipwrecked company to 
St. Paul, where they landed October 16, 1854. In this arduous voyage, Mr. Lauderdale was 
accompanied by his wife and their two children : Mollie, then not quite three months old, 
and Nettie, just twenty-three months old. They were also attended by I\Irs. Lauderdale's 
father, William Hartgrove Sloane, who dwelt with them until his death, in 1876. Leaving 
the Winslow House the ne.xt day, they rode to Minneapolis in the stage, and sojourned with 
I. I. Lewis, at the corner of Hennepin Avenue and First Street, where Mr. Lewis was then 
dwelling over his store, on the site of the present market-house. 

Mr. Lauderdale made a claim of 152 acres near Lake Calhoun, five miles from the city 
then, filing his intentions in the Land Office in the latter part of October, 1854. He drove 
out to his new estate on the first day of January, 1855, in a wagon, as there was no snow on 
the ground. He lived in John Bohannan's house at Shingle Creek, the first winter in 
Minnesota, Mr. Bohannan being in the woods that winter. His household goods were slow 
in coming, and did not get here until almost spring. He moved to his claim March 20, 1855. 
It was forty degrees below zero that morning, but the weather came off clear, and an early 
spring opened. He dug a well on the claim, and built a claim-shanty, where he dwelt until 
the land was thrown into the market by the government, when he paid Si. 25 per acre for 
it. He has often said, "I paid five per cent per month interest in 'American gold' (as the 
notes read) for tlie money to pre-empt my farm ; and when I got the interest do\vn to three 
per cent per month I thought I was doing well." He carried tailoring work home from the 
shop of Joseph H. Thompson, and the money earned in that way helped to pay the interest. 
He also raised money for the same purpose by selling a fine blooded horse for $125 to Mk. 
Cutter, on the cast side, who then owned the place that Senator GilfiUen occupies as a resi- 
dence. All of Calvin W. Clark's finest horses were descendants of a mare that lie once owned. 



WILLIAM HENRY LAUDERDALE. 91 

lie was alwajs fond of horses and a good judge of them, and made a careful study of the 
ills to which horseflesh is heir, keeping for study numerous volumes of standard writers on 
veterinary surgery ; and for several years he practised the profession of veterinary surgeon at 
the corner of Hennepin Avenue and Tenth Street, owning the place, and running a hospital 
for horses. He was very successful and earned a wide reputation, and for twenty years was 
frequently called upon for advice. He ran a dairy of thirty-five cows, with Judge E. S. 
Jones (now President of the Hennepin County Savings Bank) as partner and owner, for about 
three years. He sold out in 1879, and entered the real-estate business. 

He cleared a few acres each year by exchanging work with neighbors, while living on 
the first farm. One day, when he was thus exchanging work with Mr. Stodard on Cedar 
Lake, on the land now known as Kenwood Addition, they were threshing, with H. H. 
Hopkins running the thresher, and word came that the Indians were coming down the road, 
killing every one in their way. Mr. Lauderdale says : " We unhitched and went home, and 
most of us stayed in Minneapolis that night in '62, a night of horror to those on the borders 
of the State." Indians often came into his house on the claim, and demanded of Mrs. 
Lauderdale something to eat, when she was alone. 

This brave lady was the granddaughter of Colonel John Sloane, Treasurer of the United 
States in President Millard Fillmore's administration, and also Secretary of the State of 
Ohio during the governorship of Thomas Corwin, and Representative of Ohio in the L^^nited- 
States Congress for twelve years. He was accustomed to ride to Washington on horseback, 
for railroads were not then in use. His son, William Hartgrove Sloane, married Margaret 
Hemperley, daughter of John Hemperley ; and their daughter, Mary Elizabeth Sloane, was 
married to William Heiuy Lauderdale at Wooster, Ohio, March 20, 1852, by the Rev. A. G. 
Emmerson. Their first child, Margaret Jeanette, was born at Wooster, Ohio, November 
16, 1852, and married to William Franklin Murch, at Minneapolis, November 16, 1874, by 
the Rev. C. A. Hampton. Their children are Elise Murch, born October 25, 1875 ; Arthur 
Leslie Murch, born August 7, and died August 22, 1879; and Edgar Murch, born April 16, 
1881. Mr. Lauderdale's second child, Mary Ruth, was born at Spring Hill, Ohio, July 27, 
1854, and married to Freeman P. Lane, by the Rev. C. A. Hampton, July 6, 1875. Their 
children are Bessie Lane, born at Minneapolis, April 14, 1876; Ina Lane, born November 
28, 1877 ; Baby Lane, born February 10, and died April 9, 1882 ; Mabel Lane, born August 
28, 1883; and Stuart Lane, born February 2, 1886. Mr. Lauderdale's third child, William 
Francis Lauderdale, was born on the family claim in Hennepin County, July 5, 1861. He 
was married to Maggie M. Gates, October 3, 1883, at Minneapolis, by the Rev. George A. 
Hood. Their only child, William Henry Lauderdale, jun., was born June 25, 1886. The 
three children of Mr. Lauderdale, sen., have all changed their names, and now sign them- 
selves Nettie Murch, Mollie Lane, and Frank W. Lauderdale, respectively. 

August 8, 1872, after eight weeks of suffering, Mary E. Lauderdale, first wife of 
William Henry Lauderdale, died of dropsy. She had lived a beautiful Christian life, and 
had been a faithful wife and mother. 

On the twenty-ninth day of June, 1875, Mr. Lauderdale was united in marriage to 
Susan A. Robertson, whose maiden name was Taylor. She was of Scotch descent, and her 
childhood's home was in Nova Scotia, near Halifax. The children by the last marriage are 



92 NORTinVESr BIOGRAPHY. 

George Hays Lauderdale, born July 21, 1876; Harry Lauderdale, born March 29, 1881 ; and 
Mildred Lauderdale, born August 6, 1882. 

William H. Lauderdale and Mary E. Lauderdale, his wife, joined Plymouth Congrega- 
tional Church on confession of faith, May 7, 1865. . . . January 22, 1873, at a meeting of 
Plymouth Church, the " North Minneapolis Branch of Plymouth Church of Minneapolis" 
was organized, with William Henry Lauderdale as first deacon of the new branch, called 
" Plymouth Chapel," which was organized into Pilgrim Church. Mr. Lauderdale's letter to 
Pilgrim Church from Plymouth was dated September 25, 1873. He is still a deacon of 
Pilgrim Church, and has been very active in its support, especially in its first years, having 
been an officer in the church in almost every capacity, from trustee down. 

In 1852, Mr. Lauderdale was made a member of Wooster (Ohio) Lodge No. 42, I. O. 
O. F., and remained a member in good standing until about 1865. He named North Star 
Lodge, I. O. O. F., in Minneapolis. . . . He joined Minneapolis Lodge No. 19, A. F. and 
A. M. ; St. John's Chapter No. 9, R. A. M. ; Minneapolis Council No. 2, R. and S. M. ; Zion 
Commandery No. 2, K. T. ; Minneapolis Consistory No. 2, A. and A. S. R., Southern Juris- 
diction ; and Zura Temple, N. M. S. 

Mr, Lauderdale is very fond of good compan}-, and his conversation has a bright and 
piquant character, challenging the attention antl interest of all who hear it. In politics he 
has always sided on national questions with the Republican part}', and voted with it. 

Lauderdale County in Tennessee was named after an uncle, fur meritorious conduct 
under General Jackson. There are several other places in the United States bearing the 
family name, viz. : Lauderdale County in Mississippi, and Lauderdale Springs in the same 
State ; also the beautiful Lauderdale Lakes near La Grange, Wisconsin, v.'hich were named 
after James Lauderdale, William Henry Lauderdale's first cousin. He settled in Wisconsin 
in 1842 at that jilace, and for nearly half a century made his home there, until his death, 
March 13, 1888, in his seventy-fourth year. He had long been prominent in his town's 
affairs, serving repeatedly and acceptably as supervisor and cliairman, and twice representing 
his district in the State Legislature. James Lauderdale left a widow and five children, three 
sons and two daughters, and a large estate. 

The business firm of Lauderdale & Co. is made up of William Henr_\- Lauderdale (resi- 
dent since 1854), John W. Lauderdale, and Frank W. Lauderdale. Their dealings are in 
real estate and loans ; and the chief features of the business are, "to pay one hundred cents 
on the dollar; to make all statements good ; and never to misrepresent in regard to values." 
In May, 1879, ^- H. Lauderdale and Miner Ball began the real-estate business under the 
firm name of Lauderdale & Ball, at No. 306 Washington Avenue, North. After remaining 
together for about one year, Miner Ball removed to the Clark House, at the corner of Hen- 
nepin Avenue and Fourth Street ; and W. H. Lauderdale to No. 10 Washington Street, 
North, over the Journal office. Frank W. Lauderdale came into the firm of Lauderdale & 
Co. in April, 1881 ; and John W. Lauderdale in November, 1881. The firm is now located 
at No. 355 Temple Court. The senior member of the firm, by his wise judgment and fore- 
sight and judicious investments, where he was always first to lead, has led the concern to a 
high point of prosperity, making goodly fortunes for himself and his colleagues, and bringing 
great pecuniary benefits to many other persons who have sought his advice. 





^^^ 



EDWARD J. HODGSON. 93 



EDWARD J. HODGSON. 

THE subject of this sketch was born at Glen Meay, in the Isle of Man, on the fifth day of 
October, 1841. As the name and location of this island are known to but very few, it 
may be appropriate to say that it is a part of the kingdom of Great Britain, lying in the 
midst of the waters of the Irish Sea, almost equidistant from the nearest shores of England, 
[Ireland, and Scotland. The pet name of the island, much used by the natives, is Elian 
Vannin Veg Veen, meaning Dear Little Isle of Man. Its population is something less than 
sixty thousand souls, representing one of the primitive races of the British Islands. The 
Man.\ language is one of the five dialects of the Gaelic tongue, the Welsh and the Irish 
being also dialects of the same tongue. It is rapidly hastening to disuse and decay. The 
legendary and mystical lore of this island is rich and copious beyond that of any other country. 

The father of Mr. Hodgson was born in the year 1800 near the old town of Appleb}', 
in the county of Westmoreland, England, where every name ends in " son," probably a 
peculiarity impressed upon that region by the old Norsemen, who settled more thickly in the 
northern latitudes. The Hodgsons all trace their origin to the region near the valley of 
Eden. He was one of a family of ten, of whom but one. Miss Hannah Hodgson of Hilton, 
near Appleby, remains. The mother is a native Manx woman, now residing with her son, 
the subject of this sketch. Thomas Conin, grandfather on the mother's side, was born in 
the year 1771, and died in the year 1845. He inherited the estate known as Knockaloe Beg, 
near the old town of Peel, on which he was born, lived and died, and was buiieil. He was a 
man of great intellectual force, and remarkable for his independence in thought and action. 
In 1806 his wife died, and he erected a large tower on a very high hill on the farm near the 
sea. Between the tower and the sea is a precipice one hundred and fifty feet high. It has 
since been known as " Corrin's Tower," and is sometimes also called " Corrin's Folly," and is 
now used by the government as a landmark. From its top, on a clear day, may be seen the 
shores of England, Ireland, and Scotland, rising from the sea and the mists like spectre lands. 
By the side of this tower he and his wife were buried, as he requested. To be buried without 
the offices of an ordained minister of the church, and in unconsecrated ground, was in that 
day considered by the islanders a most daring and reckless proceeding, and the little island 
experienced a tremor of horror in all its hundred and thirty thousand acres. The family 
was frequently besought by friends and neighbors to procure a shovelful of earth from 
some consecrated spot and sprinkle upon the graves, to avert, if possible, the disastrous con- 
sequences which this headstrong man had invited. Until very recently this was the only 
burial spot on the island not consecrated by Holy Church. 

Knockaloe Beg was purchased by John Corrin, great-grandfather of Thomas. It de- 
scended to Philip his grandfather, and to Robert his father. Upon the death of Thomas it 
descended to Thomas his son, and then to Robert his grandson, the present owner, who has 
added se\'eral adjdiniiig farms to it. The solidity and persistency of the family are well ex- 
emplified by these many successions to the estate and the enlargement of its borders. 



94 XOKTHUEST BIOGRAPHY. 



In 1843, Mr. Hodgson's parents bade farewell to their island home, and, with their two j 

infant children, set their faces to the westward. Galena, Illinois, being the objective point. 
Such a journey in this day, with all its annoyances and difficulties, would not furnish even a 1 

unit of measurement for the resolution and heroism required to make it in 1843. After si.K j 

weeks' tossing in a sailing vessel amid Atlantic billows, came six weeks more of weary travel 1 

by canal to Ikiffalo, thence by vessel up the lakes to Chicago, and thence by team over and '■ 

through the bottomless roads to Galena. Western civilization had not yet evolved tlie road- 1 

master, and only those who knew the roads previous to his advent can appreciate his un- \ 

speakable \'alue. At the little town of \\'eston, near Galena, the father engaged in mining , 

for a short time, and then settled upon a small farm. But soon a rapidly increasing family , 

admonished him that he must seek a wider field than his limited means would procure in his 
present location. In the summer of 1854, with four neighbors, he made a trip of explora- 
tion in the then almost uninhabited Territory of Minnesota. They selected a location on 
Chubb Creek, near Northfield, and the following spring the families moved to their new 
homes. Hastings, on the Mississippi River, the nearest point on any line of communication 
with the world, was twenty-five miles from the little settlement, and there was but one hut be- 
tween the town and the settlement. In the fall of 1859, the subject of this sketch was sent 
to Hamline University, at Red Wing, of which college Dr. Crary was then president, and 
who was shortly followed by Dr. Jabez Brooks, now the occupant of the Greek chair in the 
State University of Minnesota, at Minneapolis. At this college he remained until the spring 
of 1863, when, with several other students, he enlisted in the army, and became a mem- 
ber of Company F of the Sixth Minnesota, of which H. B. Wilson, professor of mathe- 
matics in Hamline University, became captain. The regiment was rendezvoused at Fort 
Snelling, and while there the terrible Sioux massacre occurred, coming as suddenly and 
unexpectedly as a bolt from a cloudless sky. No time was to be lost, as the savages were 
butchering men, women, and children, with almost unparalleled cruelty and ferocity, under the 
leadership of the chief Little Crow. Governor Ramsey called upon ex-Governor H. H. Sibley 
to head an expedition against the red murderers, and in twenty-four hours he was hastening 
westward with what forces were at hand. Never did an army go forth to battle so ill pre- 
pared. They had neither tents, blankets, nor food. They had a few old muskets, but the car- 
tridges they carried did not fit the guns. It was supposed that the mere fact of an approach- 
ing army would have a tendency to stay the red demons in their pursuit of the defenceless 
whites, and would succor and save many of the fugitives who were being hunted through 
woods and swamps by the remorseless savages, whose ferocity and thirst for blood increased 
with every new victim slain. The munitions of war were to be sent forward as soon as they 
might be obtained. Scarcely had they left Fort Snelling when a cold drizzly rain set in, and 
the march through the "big woods " was slow and tedious, on account of the terrible condi- 
tion of the roads and the want of food. At the old town of Le Sueur, they got their first meal, 
and never did a more ravenously hungry host swoop down upon a people. At St. Peter they 
got the first sight of the work of the bloody wretches. Several bodies were lying in the court- 
house, and there was a boy about fourteen years old at the Washington House, who was hacked 
and hewed out of all appearance of a human being, but still lived. He was in terrible agony, 
and crazed by wounds in the head. This single instance would have been enough to inflame 



EDWARD J. HODGSON. 95 

every soldier with a righteous vengeance against the red-handed savages, but henceforward 
their march was through scenes of the most indescribable horror. Ever and anon some 
ghastly victim lay by the wayside, bloated out of all human semblance. A squad would be 
detailed to bury him where he lay, without rites, or tear of wife or children. On every 
hand were desolated homes, with the putrefying remains of father, mother, and children, 
scattered about the premises. The cowardly reds, who could thus butcher defenceless 
women and children, had no mind to risk their worthless carcasses in open fight with the 
troops, but skulked around with a view to falling upon detached bodies, who were scouring 
the country to bury the dead, as at Birch Cooley, or to ambush the main body, as at Wood 
Lake. The summer's campaign resulted in the capture of between three and four hundred 
of the cowardly assassins, who were tried by court-martial, and almost all of them con- 
demned to death. The President, however, commuted the penalty as to all but thirty-nine, 
who were hanged on one scaffold at Mankato the following winter. 

The exposures of such a campaign were too severe for a boy just out of school, and Mr. 
Hodgson contracted a throat and lung difficulty which came very near terminating his career. 
The following spring he was discharged from the army, and by the advice of his physicians 
went abroad, in the hope that a change of climate might effect a complete restoration to 
health. He spent two years travelling in England, Germany, and France, from which he 
realized much benefit, and in the spring of 1865 he returned to the United States. On the 
same day that he landed in New York came the news that Richmond had fallen. During 
his travels he had been prosecuting the study of the law, and on the fourth day of July, 1866, 
he opened a law office at Red Wing, IMinnesota. On the ninth day of August, 1868, he was 
married to Miss Mary Staples. On the 2Sth of August, 1875, he removed to St. Paul, 
Minnesota, his present place of residence. In the fall of 1886 he went to London, and 
successfully completed the organization of "The I^ondon and Northwest American Mort- 
gage Company," of which he and the Hon. Albert Scheffer and Hon. A. ¥.. Hendrickson 
are the American managers. The London directors are the Right Hon. John H. A. Mac- 
Donald, the Hon. Reginald Algernon Capel, Colonel, the Hon. Charles Gathorne Hardy, 
Basil Graham Montgomery, Essex E. Reade, Murray Robertson, and V. B. Tritton. 



96 



NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 



HORACE W. PRATT. 



STRONG, thoughtful, resolute, and fearless ! So appears Horace W. Pratt when observefl 
in the midst of that boisterous throng which gathers daily around the trading ring ot 
the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce. His uniform dignity, impressive manner, and 
imperturbable composure, would challenge attention in any crowd. He is one of the 
acknowledged leaders in the grain trade of the Northwest. His conspicuous power in his 
chosen line of business did not come to him as a gift : he has fought hard for it, and won 
it bravely. His present leadership is the result of heroic energy and triumphant ability. 
Concentration of purpose, springing from a nature inherently stable, and sustained by a 
spirit worthily ambitious, has achieved for Horace W. Pratt the victory of renown and the 
vantage of wealth. His life reflects his religious convictions, his conduct is governed bv a 
profound sense of moral obligation, and his character is above reproach. The subject of this 
sketch was boi'n in the town of Ilarmonv. Chautauqua County, New Vork, August 8, 1833. 

He is llie son of lliraiii A. and Minerva Wyman Pratt, both natives of the State of 
New York. His father. Rev. Hiram A. Pratt, was the originator, and for a number of 
years the superintendent, of the Chautauqua Association at Chautauqua Lake, New York. 

The educational advantages of Mr. Pratt were derived in early life from the common 
school and the village academy. In 1856, as a law student, he was admitted to the bar, and 
devoted himself to the practice of his chosen profession. At the expiration of ten years he 
abandoned the law for a more active business life. In 1868, after a brief experience in rail- 
road work, he engaged in the grain trade, — a department of business in which he has 
been, and still is, eminently prosperous. 

As a public man, Mr. Pratt has been called to fill positions of honor and trust, and, 
among them, that of Judge of Probate from 1856 to i860. He was for two terms mayor of 
the city of Faribault, Minnesota. Mr. Pratt is a worthy member of the Masonic fraternity, 
although not an active one. In political sentiments he is a Democrat. He believes that to 
be the party of principles, the only party that has the ability and integrity successfully to 
administer a republican government. He regards this party as the great party of truth 
and [satriotic duty. Mr. Pratt is president of the Empire Elevator Company, and also vice- 
president of the Union Elevator Company, and senior member of the firm of Pratt, Por- 
ter & Co. 

In 1858 Horace W. Pratt was united in wedlock to Miss Julia Foster of Crawford 
County, Pennsylvania, who died in i860. In 1862 he was again united in matrimony, to 
Miss Imogenet Thayer, at Mantorville, Dodge County, Minnesota. They have two children, 
— one son and one daughter. The son, Harry, is connected with his father in business. 




•=5 ' ^ aazBBj i«u TOn ■M'* 





EDWARD SHELDON NORTON. 97 



EDWARD SHELDON NORTON. 

THE subject of this sketch, Edward Sheldon Norton, was born in Birmingham, New- 
Haven County, Connecticut, September 8, 1S50. He is the son of George Hart Nor- 
ton, born October 29, 1S22, died July 4, 1880, and Ellen Sophia Bassett, born January 29, 
1832, died October 26, 1853. 

E. S. Norton is the eighth generation from his English ancestor, Richard Norton of 
London. His son John, from whom is derived the genealogy of the Norton family in 
America, was born in London, 1625, and died November 5, 1709, at Farmington, Con- 
necticut. 

Roger Norton, the first of the American births, was born in 1723 ; Roger, jun., Janu- 
ary 25, 1750; and Edward, June i, 1781. George Hart Norton, the father of the subject of 
this memoir, was born October 29, 1822, in Kensington, Connecticut. 

Each generation of the Norton family has been distinguished for integrity and patriot- 
ism. A brother of the senior Roger served as chaplain in the American army ; and two 
brothers of the junior Roger were soldiers during the national struggle for independence. 

The maternal ancestry of the subject of this sketch is not less noteworthy and inter- 
esting. John Bassett, an early pioneer of New England, died in 1653, at New Haven, Con- 
necticut. His son Robert, born in England, was a resident of New Haven in 1643. In 
165 1 the wife of Robert was executed as a witch. Their son, Robert, jun., sergeant, died 
August 5, 1720. Captain Samuel Bassett, son of Robert, jun., was born in 1692, and resided 
in Derby, Connecticut. Ebenezer, one of his eleven children, born in 1731, and died in 1760, 
left four sons, one of whom was James, who was born September 16, 1757, and died in 1847. 
William, one of the five children of the family of James, born June 18, 1781, and left one 
son, Sheldon, who married Harriet Hull, niece of General Hull of Revolutionary fame, and 
cousin of Commodore Hull, renowned in the War of 1812. Their eldest child, Ellen 
Sophia, married George Hart Norton, and these two were the parents of E. S. Norton, the 
subject of this biography. 

The Bassetts of Derby, Connecticut, have ever been, and still are, leading and promi- 
nent members of society. Royal M. Bassett, uncle of E. S. Norton, is a gentleman well 
known throughout the State as a successful business man and public-spirited citizen. He 
has been a member of the Connecticut Legislature. 

Edward Sheldon Norton was born in the old family mansion of his maternal grand- 
father, Sheldon Bassett, a gentleman of large business qualifications, highly respected by his 
fellow-citizens, and called to fill various offices of honor and trust, both of town and county. 
He was the originator of the Birmingham Iron Foundry, in Birmingham, Connecticut. 

The venerable old homestead still marks the spot where the subject of this notice first 
beheld life's morning, and sported in the sunshine of childhood's early dreams. Edward 
Sheldon Norton is named Edward after his grandfather Norton, and Sheldon after his 
grandfather Bassett. 



gS NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

It is due to the subject of this biography to include a brief record of his respected 
parents. It will help to explain and understand some of the sources of character which are 
found in the events of his life, and aid in appreciating inherited energy and habits of use- 
fulness, as well as the influences of home example and parental education. 

George H. Norton, father of E. S. Norton, at the age of fifteen, left the paternal farm, 
and, with a capital of fifty cents, engaged as clerk in a dry-goods store in New Haven, Con- 
necticut. His activity and remarkable energy of character may be inferred from the fact 
that, in twenty years, he had become a member of the firm, being himself worth thirty tliou- 
sand dollars. i\\ his subsequent business career he experienced several financial reverses, 
yet in all the vicissitudes of business disasters never forfeited his word, but cancelled in 
full every obligation, and never permitted adverse circumstances to impair his financial 
integrity. In his domestic relations, as husband and father, he enjoyed the highest respect 
and honor, becau.se there he was most intimately known. 

Mrs. Ellen Sophia Norton was widely known and pre-eminent in all those qualities of 
mind and heart and life which give an endearment, a charm, and a sacrcdness to home. 
Endowed largely by nature with those varied gifts which combine the excellency of the 
character of woman, she bore them humbly and sweetly through all the duties of a varied 
life as wife, mother, sister, and friend. In short, her life was a mission of sympathy and- 
beneficence,- which was never weary of well-doing. 

The early days of Edward Sheldon Norton were given to elementary instruction in 
simple knowledge. In due time he was placed at school, but manifested less taste for books 
than for play and mischief. In his early school experience Nature vindicated her claims. 
His active temperament demanded exercise, and his robust physical development of boyhood 
rebelled against the rigid and unnatural restraints of the schoolroom. Later in his educa- 
tional career, he discovered a keen relish for study, and applied himself assiduously to the 
acquisition of knowledge. 

After having pursued an irregular course of study in several institutions of learning, at 
the age of si.Kteen he entered his father's wholesale saddlery hardware store, in the city of 
New York, as an errand-boy. 

It was the father's intention to cultivate in his son a taste for business, and, knowing 
that self-reliance is an indispensable element of success, he determined to give the lad the 
same severe experience that he himself had been called to endure on first entering the field 
of mercantile combat. But the business never having been agreeable to his particular taste 
and inclination, after a period of some dozen years in connection with the firm, as travelling 
salesman or otherwise, the death of his father, in 1880, enabled him to close his affairs with 
the establishment, and to gratify his long-cherished desire to locate himself in business 
in -St. Paul, Minnesota. Arriving in that city, after a brief and unsatisfactory mercantile 
adventure, he found his niche at length in real estate, — a vast field of enterprise, most 
admirably adapted to his native talents and large business qualifications. Minnesota 
and the Northwest opened up to him almost a new and undeveloped field for adventure and 
industry. His comprehensive mind saw at a glance all those elements of country and prom- 
ising surroundings which render it valuable when developed by the hand and skill of indus- 
try. Its varying localities, its richness and depth of soil, its rivers and waterfalls, its valleys 



EDWARD SHELDON NORTON. 



99 



and timber tracts, its healthful climate and beautiful scenery, — all were noted by him as a 
land of promise to be prepared and occupied for the refinements of civilization. 

E. S. Norton is one of the most prominent and eminently successful real-estate opera- 
tors, not only in St. Paul, but likewise throughout the State of Minnesota and the North- 
west. His pre-eminent success in his chosen field of labor is the legitimate result of close 
attention to business, strict adherence to principle, rigid honesty of purpose, and inflexible 
integrity of character. He is deeply interested in the growth of St. Paul, as well as 
in the development of the State and the entire Northwest. 

Mr. Norton is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and a life member of the Chamber 
of Commerce in St. Paul, and director of the Chamber of Commerce during 1885 and 1886. 
In politics he is both liberal and conservative. He understands the nature and duties of 
republican institutions, and the sources of their life and strength, and is familiar with the 
constitution and laws of his country. In political sentiment he is inclined to the Republican 
party, but believes an honest man to be above all party. He has never sought office, and 
accepted none, and aspires to no honors above those of citizenship. 

He is a member of no religious organization, but, like his father before him, makes the 
Golden Rule the standard of his morality, and exact honesty his guide of life. 

He is not fond of general society, and has a distaste for all games of chance and the 
frivolous amusements that too often characterize social intercourse. He is fond of theat- 
ricals, especially light operas, and, with his family, seldom fails to avail himself of that 
pleasure and enjoyment. 

June II, 1873, Edward Sheldon Norton and Ellen Norton Bigelow were united in mat- 
rimony. They had known each other from childhood. The bride, a lady of culture 
and refinement, was born February 27, 1855, — the third generation, — in the old family 
mansion, at Norfolk, Connecticut, where the ceremony was performed. Three children, one 
son and two daughters, are the loving links in this heart-union, and a joy in the home circle. 

In studying the character and interesting business career of the subject of this biog- 
raphj-, the first consideration that presents itself is his active and comprehensive mental 
qualities. He used his powers of perception to gather knowledge, and his powers of reflec- 
tion to find its uses. He studied the -world to see what man had made it, and he studied 
nia?i to see what remained to be done. He did not look upon others as rivals, but as co- 
workers in the development of the Northwest. 

His aim in life has been to become a successful financier. He seeks wealth for its uses, 
and not for the gratification of personal aggrandizement. While he aims at the highest 
duty, he never forgets the lowest, or turns a deaf ear to the calls of suffering humanity. 

In concluding this sketch it may be justly observed that E. S. Norton is a man who, 
by his acts, is entitled to high consideration for what he has done and for what he is doing. 
He has opened wi;le paths to industry and enterprise, and extends a helping hand to all 
honest and well-disposed men who seek homes for themselves and families. A man who 
knows so well how to make an inviting home for himself and family is a safe counsellor in 
preparing happy homes for others. 



100 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 



ANTHONY KELLY. 

MINNEAPOLIS has old Ireland to thank for many of her most valued citizens. Among 
the number the name of Anthony Kelly stands conspicuous. Born in Swineford, 
County Mayo, August 25, 1832, at the age of fifteen he came to .America to give his ambi- 
tion and energy a wider scope. About ten years later he located in Minneapolis, then a 
struggling, straggling village, with nolliing apparent to distinguisli it from hundreds of others 
that dotted the budding West. In 1S58, with his brother, Patrick II. Kelly, now a leading 
St. Paul merchant, for a partner, Anthony Kelly opened a grocery store. The development 
of this business enterprise, from that small beginning to its present vast proportions, is 
typical of the growth of the commercial interests of Minneapolis. Mr. Kelly may be said to 
have grown up with the jobbing trade of the city, and, moreover, to have been instrumental 
to a great degree in furthering its growth. When he began business a wholesale trade was 
an unknown quantity, and the wildest dreamer would not have predicted that the city of 
Minneapolis would ever have a wholesale grocery trade of such \ulume as this single iiouse 
now does every year. The firm of Kelly & Brother originally did a retail grocer)- business 
at the corner of Washington Avenue and Second Avenue, South. In two years the business 
had increased to such an extent that a change of location was necessary, and in i860 a store 
was opened in the old National-Hotel building. Later the business was transferred to Britlge 
Square. In 1S64 P. H. Kelly withdrew from the firm, and his brotlier continued the busi- 
ness alone. Two years later he was burned out, but promptly resumed business. The change 
from retail to wholesale business was gradual, but finally became complete, and the establish- 
ment, located at the corner of Washington Avenue and Second Avenue, North, is among the 
largest wholesale grocery houses in the Northwest. The volume of trade mounts up into 
the millions every year. The firm-name is Anthony Kelly & Co., Messrs. H. W. Wagner 
and John I. Black being associated with Mr. Kelly. By his conservative but progressive 
business methods he has taken high rank in the business community. He is a director of 
the Northwestern National Bank. In religion a Catholic, Mr. Kelly is always counted 
among the friends of every project for the betterment of his fellow-men, as well as a de\-out 
supporter of Church enterprises. He is a director and treasurer of the organization known 
as the Associated Charities. Mr. Kelly is a Democrat, and, although he has not taken an 
active part in politics, his name has been mentioned frequently in connection with the office 
of mayor. 








y(Z 



^.^^y 






^-^ 



JESSE G. JONES. loi 



JESSE G. JONES. 

IN taking notes of the life of Jesse G. Jones, it will be seen that he comes into the list of 
America's eminent men who have carved their pathway up the hill of prosperity with 
energetic and persistent endeavors. 

Jesse G. Jones was born in Washington County, Maine, March 14, 1839. He is the son 
of David T. and Jane E. Jones, both of whom are of Puritan stock, and trace their an- 
cestry to the Mayflower, being lineal and direct descendants of John Alden. The early 
years of the subject of this sketch were given to farm industry in summer, and to a few 
months each year of schooling in winter. In 1856, the family having removed to Minne- 
apolis, he entered the high school of that city, where he pursued a regular course of study 
during two years. . At the age of eighteen, in company with his father, he established the 
first clothing and boot and shoe store in Minneapolis. This firm of father and son suffered 
severely by two conflagrations, the last of which destroyed every building on the street. 

Mr. Jones erected the first stone building on the square opposite where the city hall 
now stands. In 1867 he purchased three lots on the corner of Tenth Street and First 
Avenue, South, where he erected his permanent residence. In 1879 this building was 
entirely destroyed by fire ; but the following year he constructed one of the most tastefid 
and comfortable homes among the many in this thri\ing city. 

Mr. Jones has always been a firm believer in the future growth and prosperity of Minne- 
apolis, and has for many years entered liberally into all public enterprises, and invested largely 
in real estate. 

In 1 86 1, on the breaking out of the Rebellion, Mr. Jones was among the first to leave a 
prosperous business and enlist in the Third Regiment from the State of ^Minnesota. The 
first year of his military life was spent in Kentucky and Tennessee, guarding railways and 
hunting guerillas. In 1862 he was taken prisoner; afterwards was paroled; and returned 
to Minnesota to protect the frontier against the Indians. On the 23d of September, 1862, 
at Wood Lake, a severe battle was fought, resulting in a complete victory, in which some 
three hundred Indians were captured. In this engagement Mr. Jones was severely wounded 
and barely escaped from the Indians with his life. In 1862 he was again sent South, where 
he participated in the engagements cf Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, the siege of Vicksburg, 
the capture of Little Rock, and the battle of Fitzhugh Woods. In 1S63 Mr. Jones was pro- 
moted to commissary of subsistence. After three and a half years of arduous and faithful 
service, he was honorably discharged, at Duvall's, Arkansas, from further military duty. 

Mr. Jones's long term of service had seriously impaired his health ; but on his return 
home, after a year's careful nursing, he was able to resume business again, in company with 
his father. In 1873 Mr. Jones engaged extensively in the lumber business. His efforts in 
this field of enterprise have been eminently successful. He is the proprietor of vast tracts 
of valuable pine lands in the Northwest. 

In 1867 Jesse G. Jones was married to Annie W., second daughter of the late William 



,03 XORTIIIVEST BIOGRAPHY. 

\V. Harrison, by the Rev. Dr. Ouigley, at the home of the bride in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 
They have two children : one daughter, Mrs. John Nicholson, and one son, W. Harrison 
Jones. 

Although not a member of any religious denomination, Mr. Jones has always been an 
active and efficient teacher in Sunday schools ; and there are few Christian societies in 
Hennepin County that have not been materially aided by his generosity. He i^ a liberal 
supporter of the Young Men's Christian Association, and has contributed largely towards 
the erection of their new building. He is a worthy member of Hennepin Lodge No. 
4. A. O. F. W. ; a life member of the Young Men's Christian Association ; and an active 
member of the Grand Army of the Republic. 

In his political sentiments he is an uncompromising Republican, although in State poli- 
tics he generally supports the best man, regardless of party. In 1867, during his visiting tour 
East, his friends, appreciating the sacrifice he had made for his country, elected him countv 
treasurer, an office he held four years, with honor to himself and satisfaction to his constituents. 

In reviewing the interesting career of the subject of this sketch, it will be seen that in 
all his business relations no promise of pecuniary benefit could tempt him from the path of 
honor and integrity. The business success that has crowned his enterprises was based upon 
the fundamental principles that seldom fail : diligence, economy, intelligence, and temper- 
ance. It will be seen that he applied himself with increasing perseverance to business, after 
he became independent in monetary matters, and relaxed not a single effort to bring his 
fortune to the highest level. The steady perseverance that won financial success for Jesse 
G. Jones will win it for others. 



ALONZO C. RAND. 

THE French translator of Dickens's works once asked him for a few particulars of his life. 
He replied "that he kept them for himself." If men of note could only realize how 
much their true fame depended on their biographies written by themselves, what literary 
treasures would be left to posterity. Nothing is more eagerly read than autobiography. 
Ever)- life is a revelation, and the story of its individual experience, however diversified, will 
alwavs be read with interest, because it is essentially the common experience of mankind. 

Had John Forster given to the world the experiences of Charles Dickens, as they fell 
from his lips, his book would be without a rival in modern biography. 

The consideration of the private and public career of the subject of this sketch, as 
gleaned from disconnected memoranda, has led to the foregoing reflections. Had he left a 
full record of his experiences, the biographer's task in recording his eventful life would have 
been a labor of !*ve only. But, alas ! his light, like that of Dickens, was suddenly quenched, 
and the loss to his surviving friends and society is beyond reparation. 

Alonzo C. Rand was born in South Boston, Massachusetts, on the thirty-first day of 
December, 1832. He is of worthy parentage, and the descendant of honorable ancestors 
of the earlv New-England stock. 





•«^^^^ 



ALONZO C. RAND. 103 

In 1S36 the family removed to Buffalo, New York, where, during his childhood and 
youth, he attended the city schools. He soon disco\ered a taste and an ability for the 
higher branches of an English education, and was not only a natural student, but likewise 
a practical one. He early manifested a business capacity, and, attaining manhood, his life 
was full of energy and activity in the pursuit of a career of practical business. 

In 1853, in the city of Buffalo, New York, Alonzo C. Rand and Mary Olive Johnson 
were united in matrimony. In 1859, Mr. Rand, having located himself and family in the 
oil region of Pennsylvania, engaged in the oil business, where he erected, in connection with 
his partner, at the Union Wells, Erie County, one of the first refineries for the treatment 
of petroleum oil. He, becoming interested, subsequently, in the manufacture of gas from 
petroleum and its products, took up his residence in New-York Cit\-, for the purpose of 
introducing his plans, and of presenting them to the public. 

After a residence of some three or four years East, he turned his face westward, and, 
after residing two years in the vicinity of Chicago, arrived, in the fall of 1872, at his per- 
manent home in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Mr. Rand did not fail to observe the probable 
capabilities of this new field of enterprise. » His comprehensive mind saw at a glance all 
those elements of situation and promising surroundings which render a locality valuable when 
developed by the hand and skill of industry. These impressions were amply illustrated in 
the subsequent business career of the subject of this sketch. He entered extensively into all 
the varied business operations opening up around him, and took great interest in the pros- 
perity and growth of the city, both as a citizen, and in his official capacity as mayor. His 
career was rapid : he had acquired prosperity b\- close industry, by constant work, and by 
keeping ever in view the great principle of doing to others as \'ou would be done by. 

The shocking catastroj^he that terminated the life of this estimable citizen, together 
with the entire party that accompanied him on that fatal boat excursion, is well known to 
the public. Premature death is always sad. The sudden shutting of the vital gates of a 
brave, bright spirit, as is perhaps profanely phrased, " before his time," awakens a sharper 
pain than when the ripe fruit drops of itself, or is kindly gathered in. 

Alonzo Rand passed away in the flush and prime of his usefulness, the model of manly 
beauty and moral worth, yet he faded out at the moment when he was filling the hearts and 
eyes of his fellow-citizens. Even on the threshold of an earthly future, crowned with hopes 
and honors, he is suddenly introduced into the mysteries of another world. 



I04 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 



THOMAS WEEMS WILSON.. 

THOMAS WEEMS WILSON, the subject of this sketch, was born in the town of 
Sinking Valley, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, on the first clay of the month of 
December, in the year 1839. The given name of his father was John ; the maiden name 
of his mother, Bard. His father was born in the year 1792, and died in the year 1844. His 
mother was born in the year 1794, and died in the year 1S42. 

His fatlier's occupation was that of farmer and tanner. Owning large tracts of land 
lying among the hills, mountains, and valleys of that romantic region situated in the eastern 
part of Pennsylvania, his farming was carried on on an extensive scale for that time and 
country. 

In connection with his farming operations, he owned and managed an extensive tan- 
nery, assisted in part by his eldest son David. As there were large tracts of timber on the 
mountains, burning charcoal was an important industry, which he also carried on. 

Subsequently, owing to special inducements held out to him, he sold his property, and, 
with his family, removed to Pulaski, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, in the western part of 
the State, near the Ohio boundary, and fifty miles from Pittsburg. 

The ancestry of the Wilson family dates for several generations back (on the maternal 
side) to the DelVIers, a family connected with the nobility of France. The father of Mrs. 
Wilson was a Presbyterian clergyman, whose name was Bard. He was also a member of 
the Continental Congress. 

• The family of Mr. Wilson consisted of eight children, two sons and six daughters, 
three only of whom are now living : viz., Mrs. Rachel D. Wright, Mrs. Annie M. Raymond, 
and Thomas W. Wilson, the latter being the youngest, and, as is usual in such cases, the 
favorite child. 

Attending the district and common schools of his town until of sufficient age to leave 
home and the care of his sisters (his parents having died during his early boyhood), he 
entered a commercial college at Pittsburg, graduating from that excellent institution with 
honor, soon after which he accepted a position as cashier of the First National Bank at 
Sparta, Wisconsin. The president was John T. Hemphill, formerly of Milwaukee. He 
remained here, filling the position with great credit to himself, as well as profit to the bank, 
until 1866, when, in connection with Erastus Byers, a former merchant of Pulaski, Pennsyl- 
vania, he organized what was then, and still is, known as the Bank of Minneapolis. As Min- 
neapolis was at that time only a small frontier town, but little was needed, compared with 
later days, in the way of banking facilities ; consequently there were but three banks in the 
place. Mr. Wilson assumed the presidency, with Mr. Byers as cashier, the bank at once 
taking a leading position, which it has ever since maintained. 

Conservative in its management, taking no unusual risks, it has at all times secured and 
maintained the confidence of the public ; and whenever financial storms have made their 
appearance on the monetary horizon, Mr. Wilson has not waited for them to break in force, 



V. 



THOMAS WEEMS WILSON. i05 

but at once takes in sail, and so prepares his ship of finance that when the storm has passed, 
leavino o many financial wrecks in its wake, his remains firm, scathless, and ummpaired. 

^.e B™ k'of Minneapolis was originally located in the old Athen.um Buddmg, Henne- 
pin Avenue the post-office on one side, and the bank on the other. As the city grew, the 
Zl:i7l bank correspondingly increased, until, havmg "-^rown ^qnar^r. a chan^ 
was affected bv removal to Nicollet House Block, corner of Hennepu. and W ^^' '"S °^^; ^""^ ; 

Continuing, as it had from the start, a private institution untd the yea. iSb, it was then 
consolidated a^' a stock company, Mr. WHson retaining as ^e -e the p,-esKlency. T 
change, brought about by various reasons, was partly necessitated by the death of its cashier 

and nart owner, Erastus Bycrs. ■ i ^ .1 ^t 

Thl business of the bank continuing to grow with rapid strides, it became evident tit 
„,o,e commodious quarters would soon be an imperative necessity, in consequence of which 
"ft r "il time being spent in negotiations, a lot was purchased at the corner of Nicollet 
A enue an Third Street, at the then largest amount per front foot ever paid for Minne- 
t^is realestL; viz., twelve hundred and thirty-three dollars per front foot, or, m round 
numbers fifty thousand dollars. . ,, , 

. Yo.ni never see your money again.- was the verdict of many wiseacres, and so- led 
experts in real-estate matters. " You are paying a price that will never again be reahzeu for 

"" As'tl'riand would, if now in market, bring not less than two thousand dollars per 
foot.tt oi'ly goes to sho.^ that the sagacity and foresight of Mr. Wilson served him in good 
steid in this transaction, as it has in many others. , • 1 1 <, 

X •, year and a half ago the foundalion. of a bank block were la.d, upon «'h,ch ha 
arise^^a »;eSn,c.„,-e at onc°e the ornament and „rUle of the city, .and wh.eh .s w.thont 
flniiht the finest building for bank purposes in the State. 

As th P ns of thil building are in many respects peculiar and thoroughly unique, it is 
needt s to dd that they were originated by Mr. Wilson, the natural bent of whose mind 
runs in i°- nal channels ; in other words, he copies no one. In this connection it might be 

in re t^ state that this trait of originality has been shown and carried out in nearly 
a 1 o his ar.e business transactions, notably in the case of purchasing large tracts of land. 

1 in. o and lltting additions to the city, dividing and selling in shares of fifty or more 
lo e°ach at pr ces which have enabled purchasers to realize handsomely from their invest- 
ment Tin sv^le others are selling lots singly, he is content only to sell in blocks, evi- 
Indn^T actthatasa merchant the retail trade would have no fascmation for nm^t 
rath /Ihe wholesale department, his mind being better adapted for grasping 1-Se^f • • 
He ll! within the past^ix years, platted and sold four additions to the city, all of .hich 
are now of ^reat value and of much public benefit. 

In be.re\^lent matters, while liberal, he seeks to perform his benefactions wi hou 
.J:JZ.. deservii. man «;;^ ^hild eve^a,;,ied ^o^-^- -^ -- 

ir-l^i::::; ' '^^f^J^::::^^^^- - - sisters, famH^^d immed^e 
f,ie"h llrever been a marked trait of his character. A gentleman h.mseh, he cannot tol- 
crate coarseness or rudeness m others. 



io6 NORTHWEST niOGRAPTIV. 

Of an even temperament, he is always cheerful, kind, and considerate^ but on occasion 
can show decision and such temper as may be called for in the case. As a young man, no 
one was ever more popular, in whatever community he lived. In mature life no man is more 
worthy or receives more respect. In person he is always neat, in dres.s stylish, but plain. He 
likes a good span of horses, and to handle the reins oven a fast one is his deliglit. Kindness 
to animals is a trait of his character; he would sit up all night to relieve an ailing dog. 

In religious matters, as in business affairs, he is liberal, believing tliat as all were cre- 
ated free and equal, and endowed with inalienable rights in this life, so they will be sustained 
in the future one, and believes more in good works than in faith. His creed is simple, and 
may be summed up thus, " Do as ye would be done by." For many years he was a constant 
attendant and worshipper at the Church of the Redeemer, of which the Rev. Dr. Tuttle 
has so long been the acceptable and worthy pastor. 

His political faith may in a general sense be classed with that of his religion, — ex- 
tremely liberal ; believes the country safe under any good government, no matter what the 
name ; and may the best man win, is his motto 



JOSIAH THOMPSON. 

AMONG the ancient towns of Southeastern Massachusetts, where sea and land are inter- 
locked with each other in many an azure bay and surf-beaten promontory, the memory 
of the Pilgrims is preserved with pious care ; and it is considered rather better than a patent 
of nobility to be descended from the J/(?i^(7iwr people. In this wise, Nathaniel Tiiomps<m 
of Middleborough held a notable rank, about the middle of the last century, since he could 
trace his ancestry back to the brave John Aldcn and his wife Priscilla. As Alden, the 
youngest of the Pilgrims, had then been dead only about si.\ty year.s, the links of relation- 
ship were but few, and easily established. Nathaniel's son, Otis Thompson, was born at 
Middleborough, September 13, 1776, and at the age of fifteen entered Rhode-Island College 
(now Brown University) at Providence. In his successive pastorates of thirty years in the 
Congregational Church at Rehoboth, four years at Newark, New Jersey, and ten years at 
Utica, New York, and during the useful closing years of his life a\ North Abington, Massa- 
chusetts, where he died at the age of eighty-three, this Christian scholar made a notable 
record of usefulness and honor. For some eight years he published The Hopkinsian Maga- 
zine, setting forth the religious doctrines of the famous Dr. Hopkins. Remarkable as a pro- 
ficient student of the Greek and French languages, he fitted many young men for college, 
and prepared them for the ministry. Among these was the Rev. Dr. Elam Smalley, the suc- 
cessor of Nathaniel Emmons, D.D. The wife of the Rev. Otis Thompson, Mrs. Rachel 
Chandler Thompson, was a descendant of Captain Miles Standish, the famous military 
leader of the Plymouth Colony. 

The son of this marriage, Josiah Thompson, had a practical common-school education, 



/OS/ AH r HO MP SOX. lo;- 

and at the age of fourteen went to work as a clerk in a mercantile house at New Bedford, 
Massachusetts. The failure of this concern was followed by his return home, where he 
began a course of study under a private tutor, in preparation for college. But the home 
was broken up soon after by the deatli of his mother : and young Thompson became master 
iif the principal school in his native county. Though unusually successful as a teacher, his 
inclination lay in the direction of mercantile life, and forced liim to decline a second engage- 
ment at the school. He thereupon entered the employ of a dry-goods house in his native 
town, with the salary of fifty dollars a year; and this e.xperience was followed by a three- 
years' clerkship at Providence, in the famous old Butler's Arcade. Failing somewhat in 
health, his physician ordered him to go South ; and in the beautiful old Gulf city of Mobile, 
below the cotton-belt of Alabama, he spent the ne.\t four seasons. Here he conducted a 
prosperous grocery and ship-chandlery business, furnishing supplies for steamboats and other 
vessels, beginning with a small capital, and succeeding by applying the profits to the enlarge- 
ment of the trade. The concern bore the names successively of Thompson & Allen, 
Thompson, Allen & Co., and Josiah Thompson. The store occupieil a commodious four- 
stor)' stone building on Conti Street, then the leading business thoroughfare of Mobile, 
l^ut the climate of the far South did not agree with Mrs. Thompson, ami lier parents wished 
to have her live near them during the remaining years of their lives. 

Returning from Alabama to his native State, Mr. Thompson fountled in the city of 
Lowell the dry-goods firm of Ward & Tiiompson, which employed a dozen hands, and had 
a successful career for fifteen years. The store had capital frontages at No. 91 Merrimac 
Street and No. 2 John Street, with ample room for the business, which centred at the largest 
and oldest dry-goods store in Lowell. But the competition arising from the nearness of so 
great a city as Boston prevented the growth of the trade to metropolitan proportions, and 
the partners finally decided to close it up. 

At this time the Strafford Western Emigration Association came into being as a stock 
company, the plan being to select an eligible town-site of a quarter-section of land, securing 
also the farms in the vicinity. , Mr. Thompson held the presidency of the association for the 
first three years, and occupied the first frame house built in the new village of Zumbrota, 
Minnesota, which has since grown to be a place of considerable importance. 

After fifteen years of quiet life at Zumbrota, in the year 1871 he moved to St. Paul, 
and engaged in the fire-insurance business. Si.x months later he settled in Minneapolis, and 
opened the well-known life-insurance office there, taking the State agency for the Phoeni.x 
Mutual Life Insurance of Hartford, which he still conducts. 

Mr. Thompson was married at Alton, Illinois, June 9, 1837, to Nancy, the daughter of 
Artemus Ward of Worcester, Massachusetts. This well-known gentleman had been regis- 
ter of deeds for thirty years, receiving his elections from Whigs and Democrats alike, for all 
this long period of public service. Miss Ward was a person of unusual education and ac- 
complishment, possessing rare qualities of mind and heart, and notable judgment and discre- 
tion. This noble Christian lady shared the varying fortunes of her husband for forty-eight 
years, the comforter and counsellor of her children, and of hundreds of others in the old 
pioneer days. March 27, 1883, she passed upward to her reward, leaving a memory sancti- 
fied by almost half a century of benevolence, charity, and kindness. "Give hei of the 
works of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates." 



io8 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

Of the nine children born to this marriage four are still living, all in IMinneapolis. 
These are Josiah Thompson, jun., Edward Payson Thompson, Melbourne G. Thompson, and 
]\Iary A. Thompson (now Mrs. J. Frank Colloni). , 

Mr. Thompson was married a second time, June 17, 1SS4, at Minneapolis, to Augusta A. 
Allen, daughter of Mr. S. A. Allen, of Malone, New York. Their united life was of short 
duration, for on the 2d of March ensuing she died at New Orleans, where she had gone with 
her husband to attend the E.xposition. On the 9th of June, 1886, he married Sarah Rebecca 
Vail, at Minneapolis. She was a descendant, on her mother's side, of Roger Sherman, one 
of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Her father was James Wellington Vail 
of Milwaukee, one of the pioneer missionaries of Wisconsin, and the organizer of over a 
thousand Sabbath schools, from which sprang hundreds of Congregational churches. 

Under the careful training and consistent example of religious parents, Mr. Thompson 
became a Christian at an early age, and devoted himself with great ardor to Sabbath school 
work. He served as deacon and clerk of the John Street Congregational Church at Lowell, 
Massachusetts, and held the superintendency of a flourishing mission Sabbath school. 
Going thence to the Western country, one of his first works alter arriving at Zumbrota, 
Minnesota, was the organization of a Sabbath school, founded in a log cabin, and succes- 
sively occupying a board claim-shanty, a real-estate office, and a i)ublic hall. At last, by 
soliciting funds from liastern friends, and unremitting diligence in planning, he placed the 
organization in a neat church building, free from debt. Heginning with but five adherents, 
this church attained a membership of one hundred, with a Sabbath school of one hundred 
and fifty attendants. It is now one of the most influential churches in Goodhue County. 
After his removal to Minneapolis, Mr. Thompson associated himself with Plymouth Congre- 
gational Church, of which he is still a member. Ilis religious earnestness has also taken the 
form of a tlecji interest in the missionarv work, home and foreign. His sister, Mrs. Char- 
lotte Thomas, has labored for over thirty years in India with her husband ; and her son, the 
Re\-. W. H. Thomas, and his wife are engaged in the same work, together with a native 
minister wliom they had educated in America. 

Mr. Thompson is naturally of a genial turn of mind, and keenly enjoys the pleasures of 
congenial society. His push and energy and indomitable perseverance are noble and valu- 
able traits, well known among his friends and acquaintances. After giving his first vote to 
the Whig party, he became disaffected with that organization, because its position on the 
question of slavery seemed to be dictated by policy rather than principle ; and in the ensu- 
ing break-up of political parties he joined the new Republican organization, of which he has 
ever since remained an active member. In these later days he has been in warm sympathy 
with the Prohibition movement. 

The words of Longfellow are appropriate to the subject of our sketch, as well as to 
many other earnest pioneers of the Northwest : — 

" The heights by great men reached and kept 
Were not attained by sudden flight, 
But they, while their companions slept, 
Were toiling upward in the night." 



HON. CONRAD GOTZIAN. 109 



HON. CONRAD GOTZIAN. 



IT has long been the boast of America, and justly so, too, that it excels any other country 
1 in the world in offering to the worthy and ambitious an opportunity to rise in life, and 
achieve success and honor or wealth. How many notable examples the history of these 
United States, and especially of our own State, has recorded, of youth emigratuig from 
their transatlantic homes to the " land of liberty," poor and friendless, with nothmg but their 
native industry, integrity, and talent to aid them in the race of life, and who have risen to 
l,i-h position in commercial, political, or professional life in America, by the simple force of 
their own exertions and " grit " ! Of these truly successful men, the subject of this memoir, 
Hon Conrad Gotzian, of St. Paul, is one of the most notable instances. 

Mr. Gotzian was born on August 15. 1835. i'^ the village of Berka-on-the-Werra, in 
Saxe-Weimar, Prussia, a place about fifty miles southwest of Leipsic. His parents had quite 
a family of sons and daughters, most of whom reached adult age, and several of whom sub- 
sequently came to America. Conrad Gotzian grew up almost to manhood ni his native 
home, and attained such education as was possible to a lad in his circumstances. In his 
boyhood and youth he was noted for his fine physical gifts and activity, and for his kind and 
n-enerous nature, as well as for his application to everything, either work, or study, or play, 
which fell to his share. But this was by no means all. The common mass of mankind, not 
favored by any adventitious circumstances, are generally content to float with life's current, 
unstirred by any great aspirations to rise above the general level. But there are notable ex- 
ceptions to this, and one of these was illustrated in the case of the subject of this memoir. 

Conrad Gotzian was not one of those who could brook a life of dull inaction, or pace con- 
tentedly around in a narrow sphere circumscribed by fortune. While most persons are 
usually -lad to seize opportunities when they are presented, he was one who could make 
opportunities. He might well have chosen for his motto, Aut invanam, aut faaaui,~-"\ 
will either find a way or make one." During the years in which he was growing up to man- 
hood he was revolving in his imagination dreams of carving out a career of wealth and dis- 
tinction far different from that into which fortune's lot had cast him. He felt that he had 
within him the elements necessarv to win a far brighter future in life, and the ability and 
enero-y to -rapple with sterner problems than those which faced his daily life in his boyhood s 
home, and that he could, in a fair struggle with fortune, compel it to yield him the palm of 
success He felt that all that he wanted was a field, an arena in which to try his power. 
There was but one way to gain this : it was only in free and prosperous America, which 
offered opportunities and advantages for the industrious and energetic. 

So, in 1852, in his seventeenth year, Conrad Gotzian bade adieu to his family and his 
native hamlet, and turned his face to the land of promise. He landed in Philadelphia, and 
at once sought employment there. As he had learned no trade, to accomplish this result 
seemed the first and most necessary step to be taken, and accordingly he apprenticed him- 
self to a shoe manufacturer in that city, where he served a full term in learning that busi- 



MO XOKTHIVEST BIOGRAPHY. 

iiLbs, and mastered it thorough!)', as he did everything that lie undertook, in fact. Soon 
after this he heard of' St. Paul as a promising place for a young man to settle, and in 1855, 
in company with a friend, he removed to St. Paul, and cast in his lot with that rising me- 
tropolis of the great Northwest. On the roll-book of the " Ramsey County Pioneer Asso- 
ciation," of which he became a member subsequently, he records, in his own handwriting, 
the date of his arrival as M.ny 1, 1855. ^^c was then twenty years of age. 

Young Gotzian obtained, without delay, employment at his trade, and was not long iu 
winning a reputation, among the acquaintances that he easily made, as a young man of 
industrious habits, correct principles, and worthy aims. His life was pure and e.xemplary, 
and commanded the respect of all, while his open, frank, genial manners won for him many 
warm friends. His word became known "as good as a bond." Always of a strong religious 
nature, he united with the Methodist Church, and was ever afterwards an earnest advocate 
of all that is implied in the word "religion." It was not long before he cstabli.slied himself 
in the retail boot and shoe trade on Jackson Street, between I-"ifth and Si.vth, in which stand 
he carried on a successful business for several years, when he changed his retail trade into 
the jobbing branch exclusively, and ultimately added to it the manufacturing branch, as will 
be found narrated hereafter. During a portion of this lime his brother, Adam Gotxian, was 
associated with him in business. The latter, who was a prominent and respected citizen of 
St. Paul, was killed by a railroad accident several years ago. 

During this period Mr. Gotzian was steadily growing and developing his ability and skill 
as a tradesman. His circle of friends was also enlarging. Perhaps none of the young busi- 
ness men of St. Paul had, during that time, a larger coterie of warm and sincere friends 
than Conrad Gotzian, and with good reason, too, for they instinctively knew him to be a true 
and noble man in all the relations of life, one whose honor and integrity were unimpeachable. 
He attained a high standing in financial and commercial circles. He had a lofty sense of 
honor. He scorned deception, and never countenanced it in his trade. He made his 
business, in all its scope and bearings, a study, and always exercised an admirable fore- 
sight in providing for emergencies, so that he met with no unpleasant surprises. He was 
uniformly cool, cautious, and prudent, and yet had abundant nerve and decision in grasping 
opportunities to extend his business, or take advantage of fluctuations in the market. He 
was too judicious and discreet to be entraj^ped into any glittering schemes. Legitimate 
trade, honest, regular business, was his only rule. He was always sensitive about his credit. 
Credit, to a merchant, he deemed the life and soul of trade ; and during his whole business 
career no man in business in St. Paul was rated higher on 'Change, in the lists of commercial 
agencies, or in Eastern markets. 

During this periocf Mr. Gotzian was devoting much of his leisure time to hard study. 
His earlier education was not as thorough as he had wished, but he largel)- made up for this 
deficiency by subsequent reading and study, and during the rest of his life always had a good 
library, of which he was ver)- fond. He was a well-informed man on many topics, and 
always expressed his ideas with clearness and force. He was a man who gave subjects that 
interested him careful thought. He was not quick to form a judgment, but when he had 
once made up his mind on any matter he was tenacious in asserting his views ; nor was he 
the least narrow in his beliefs, but was tolerant and liberal. 



\ 



HON. COXRAD GOTZIAX lir 

On January 13, 1859, Mr. Gotzian, now a prosperous merchant, was united in marriage 
to Miss Caroline Basse, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio. This union was a most liappy one. 
Mrs. Gotzian is a lady of very amiable and attractive qualities, a loving and devoted wife, an 
affectionate and indulgent mother, and a sincere friend, and has for many years enjoyed the 
esteem of a large circle of acquaintances, to whom her society and hospitality have greatly 
endeared her. A happy family of children grew up around them, all bound closely to each 
other, and to their parents, by those strong ties of love and respect which make home a 
blessed institution, and which form the safety and bulwarks of society. Mr. Gotzian was 
a man blessed with unusually strong domestic tastes. He loved his pleasant home and his 
family devotedly : no place was so dear to him. He would always turn eagerly from the cares 
of business, and the weariness and worry of commercial life, with its hollowness and selfish- 
ness, to his home, where he found true love and affection. His greatest enjoyment was to 
romp with his children ; and he used to give up whole evenings to this amusement. There 
was, between him and his children, the most full and tender confidence and sympathy ; and 
never did children have a more generous or indulgent father, or one more loved by them. 
He had deep religious faith, and was careful to instil into them a sincere regard for sacred 
things, and the best precepts of the Christian faith. Of the nine children born to Conrad 
and Caroline Gotzian, three died in infancy. At his death he left one son, Paul H. 
Gotzian, and five daughters: viz., Caroline E., now Mrs. Theo. L. Schurmcier ; Helen E., 
now Mrs. Arthur B. Driscoll ; and Harriet F., Vallie, and Rubcrta, unmarried. In 1S77, we 
may here remark, Mr. Gotzian built his splendid and comfortable house on East Tenth 
Street, which has since been the scene of so many hospitable entertainments, and is still 
the residence of his family. 

In 1865 ^Ir. Gotzian established an exclusively jobbing and manufacturing business, 
with thirty-five operatives, and on April 3, 1866, entered into partnership with George W. 
Freeman of St. Paul, under the firm-name of C. Gotzian & Co. The house opened up a 
very extensive establishment on lower Third Street, and have since enlarged it to its present 
prosperous dimensions. The first year's sales were sixty-five thousand dollars. Their recent 
sales reach a hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year, and four hundred and sixty-five hands 
are employed in the manufacture and shipping of goods. 

As a business manager, carrying on a large trade, and employing so much capital in 
intricate business ventures, Mr. Gotzian displayed the most signal ability. He certainly was 
endowed b)- nature with gifts in this direction far above the average. As a business 
man, his associates say, his views and ideas were of a superior order. He had a happy 
talent for enlisting the interest and devotion and loyalty of all his employes, and bringing 
them to the most intelligent and faithful efforts to advance the success of the house. His 
own views regarding trade were broad and clear. He was very quick and correct in esti- 
mating values, and in recognizing and taking advantage of good chances. He had the 
reputation of being one of the most skilful buyers who were accustomed to purchase in the 
Boston market, to which he used to go two or three times a year; and all the dealers in that 
city always spoke of Conrad Gotzian in terms of the warmest admiration. 

His careful devotion to business, and his correct judgment and vigilance in watching 
for opportunities for good investments, soon produced their result in the rapid growth of his 



112 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

wealth. At the date of his death his estate was considered worth a million dollars, alto- 
gether the product o^ his own industry and ability. The care of such wide-e.xtended inter- 
ests kept him very busy for some years, and might have broken down a less strong man 
But Mr. Gotzian was gifted with a splendid physical organization, and this, added to his pure 
and temperate life, sustained his strength to the last. It is probable that he was never 
actually sick a day in his life until the final attack which produced his death, at the age of 
fifty-two years. He did not allow business cares to worry him, or to pursue him beyond the 
door of his counting-room. He knew he could find rest and enjoyment in his happy home, 
and there he was always sociable, good-humored, and ever ready for a frolic with the chil- 
dren. As a recreation from business he was quite devoted to field sports, and made fre- 
quent trips, during the proper season, to the lakes and prairies in pursuit of grouse or 
aquatic fowl, of which he always secured a good share, and enjoyed these excursions highly. 
He was eminently a sociable and companionable man, and in the intercourse of such occa- 
sions his genial and fun-loving nature and natural mirthfulness made him an associate much 
prized by his fellow-hunters. 

Mr. Gotzian's success and ability as a merchant and manufacturer, added to his integrity 
and upright character, gave him a high standing in his community and in the business circles. 
No man in trade in his city was more esteemed and respected. His advice and aid were always 
sought for on important subjects connected with the welfare and progress of the city, or 
regarding schemes for its advancement and prosperity. Among the many movements to 
aid enterprises of various kinds, or to raise money for worthy objects, Mr. Gotzian was 
actively prominent, and he contributed willingly and liberally. Perhaps no one of our citi- 
zens was more generous or unstinted in that line. Many of our city institutions have par- 
taken of his bount\-. There was not a drop of selfish blood in Conrad Gotzian. Only once, 
howcvci", did he accept any political office, and that was in 1882, when he was elected a 
member of the approaching Legislature. This was entirely unsought on his part, and only 
entered into at the request of some of his friends, who wished his aid in measures of impor- 
tance to the welfare of the citv. Mr. Gotzian was for several years an active and valuable 
member of the Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade, as well as of tlie Jobbers' Union. 
He was also for some years a prominent member of the board of directors of the German- 
American National Bank. Ferdinand Willius, Esq., president of that institution, has paid 
a fine tribute to the value of Mr. Gotzian's services to that institution, and his ability and 
skill as a financier. He says, — 

" Mr. Gotzian was one of the incorporators, and a member of the Board of Directors, of the 
German-American Bank of this city from the time of its organization in 1873 uiilil its incorporation 
as a National Bank, when he was re-elected a member of the new board, which position he continued 
to fill until the time of his death. Through these, and other relations, I have enjoyed the privilege of 
a rather intimate acquaintance with him and his career in life. In the strictest sense of the word 
he was a self-made man. Without any means but the savings from his own earnings, without the 
advantages of a collegiate education, without any business education, e.Kcept wiiat he acquired in the 
gradual growth of his own business, he succeeded, through perseverance and industry, to establish 
for liimself a position in life that commanded the respect of all, and to build up one of the largest 
and most prosperous mercantile and manufacturing houses of its kind in the Northwest, wilii a busi- 
ness reputation and credit second to none in the list. 



HON. CONRAD GOTZIAN 113 

■'As a citizen lie was never found wanting when called on to aid in the promotion of matters 
nf public interest. Noble-minded, strictly honorable in all his dealings, congenial in social inter- 
course, and charitable towards the poor, he enjoyed a well-deser\-ed popularity among all classes of our 
people. Aside from liiis popularity, liis remarkable success in life may be attributed more particu- 
larly to a thorough jiractical knowledge of his trade, a natural financial talent, a clear conception of 
business requirements, strict adherence to proper business principles, and a clear judgment of human 
natme.'' 

Mr. Gotzian's strong and elastic physical constitution sustained him in all his severe 
labor.s and application to business during a period of over thirty years. He was a man of un- 
usual bodily strength, being six feet one inch in height, and weighing ordinarily two hundred 
and ten pounds. It may be possible, however, that his unceasing devotion to business, and 
the continual strain on his mind, at last overta.xed his endurance. He appeared, towards the 
close of 1 886, to suffer from some disorder of the head or brain, exactly what his physicians 
could not determine, and he did not complain seriously. They advised him, however, to 
seek a warmer climate for the winter, which he did, proceeding to Riverside, California, 
where he obtained the best medical advice, and sought absolute repose and quiet. He con- 
tinued to become worse, however, and it became evident that he could not live long. A 
special car was procured for him, and, accompanied by his physician. Dr. Martin Ilagan of 
Los Angeles, he started for St. Paul in February, 1S87. He reached home quite feeble, 
and died a few hours after his arrival, on February 21, surrounded by his heart-broken wife 
and children. The sad news of his death was received by his friends and associates in the 
cit)- with deep and sincere sorrow. Many were the warm and spontaneous tributes paid to 
his virtues and high character. The Pioneer Press of February 22 said in an editorial, — 

" \ Noble Merchant Gone. — One of the best and truest hearts that ever beat ceased its pul- 
sations when Conrad Gotzian breathed his last yesterday evening. From a humble position he had 
risen many years ago, by the simple force of character, to a foremost position among the merchant 
princes of St. Paul; and he leaves his children an inheritance far nobler than the large fortune 
amassed by his toils, — the priceless legacy of a good name. He was a leading spirit among that 
band of far-sighted pioneers whose energy and enterprise laid the foundations of the commercial 
greatness of St. Paul ; and to no one more than to Conrad Gotzian is it indebted for the commer- 
cial pre-eminence it now enjoys. He was the same large-hearted, kindly, courteous gentleman in all 
his business relations as in his private and social life ; and with a soul of generous integrity which 
spurned all the petty meannesses of competitive traffic, he recalled the best types of those noble mer- 
chants who have adorned the annals of commerce in every age. It is not only because he was hon- 
ored and respected for the uprightness of his character, and his sterling and manly virtues, but 
because he was warmly loved for his kindly and sympathetic nature, that his loss will be more deeply 
felt and mourned than any other that has afflicted this community for many years. Others may even- 
tually fill his place in the business circles of St. Paul : no other can fill it as a neighbor and friend. 
His grief-stricken family have the tenderest sympathy of the whole community." 

The funeral of Mr. Gotzian took place from his late residence on February 24. It was 
attended by a large concourse of his friends, all of whom seemed to rest under a burden of 
grief. The employes of his business house attended in a body, numbering three htm- 



114 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

dred, wearing appropriate badges of mourning. The funeral services were conducted bj' 
Bishop M. N. Gilbert of the Episcopal Church, and Bishop Foss of the Methodist-Episcopal 
Church, each of whom paid high tributes to the deceased. The remains were then taken to 
Oakland Cemetery for burial. 



JAMES SARGENT LANE. 

JAMES SARGENT LANE, of ^Minneapolis, was born at St. Stephen, New Brunswick, 
August 6, 1833. He came of patriotic old Revolutionary stock, and numbers among 
his ancestors heroes who aided by their swords in the redemption of New England from the 
war-parties of the Indians, the legions of France, and the red-coats of Great Britain. 

Mr. Lane's great-grandfather was an English military officer in the Province of Maine. 
He commanded Fort Mary at Winter Harbor, in 1717; the fort at St. George's in 1744; 
and Fort Halifax on the Kennebec. He passed several years in captivity among the 
Indians, and the family still sacredly preserve several relics given him by these savage custo- 
dians. He died July 14, 1756, in the expedition against Crown Point, and was succeeded in 
the command of his company by his son. Lieutenant John Lane. Two other sons, Daniel and 
Jabcz, were also in the army. The company formed a part of the levies raised by the Prov- 
ince of Massachusetts for service against Montcalm's French fortresses on Lake Champlain. 
It was mustered into Colonel Joseph Dwight's regiment at Fort William Henry on Lake 
George, October II, 1756. The three brothers afterwards served as captains in the army 
of the Revolution, campaigning with the Massachusetts Line. 

Mr. Lane's father, Silas Nowell Lane, was born at Buxton, York County, Maine, Jan- 
uary 31, 1794, and served as a soldier in the war of 18 12, after which he moved to St. 
Stephen, New Brunswick, and engaged in the lumber business. Another family, the Kings, 
moved from the Pine-tree State to New Brunswick about the same time, and one of its 
daughters, Velona King, born at Waterville, Maine, May 10, 1805, was married to Mr. Lane, 
June 13, 1822. The ceremony took place at St. Stephen, the Rev. Dr. Thompson officiat- 
ing. They had five sons, Silas K., Isaac E., Loring S., Leonidas M., and James S. Lane, of 
whom only the last two are now living. Silas Nowell Lane died at St. Anthony, July 27, 
1867; and his widow died at Minneapolis, September 17, 18S5. 

Silas K. Lane and Isaac E. Lane came to St. Anthony in 1848 as pioneers for their 
family. 

At the early age of fourteen, the subject of our sketch began the long battle of 
life, spending his summers at work in the sawmills, and his winters in the great forests, 
cutting and transporting logs. October 17, 1852, he came to St. Anthony Falls, and, in 
company with his brother Lsaac, began to manufacture lumber for Henry T. Wells, using 
the primitive mills then in vogue, which, with a single saw, turned out from 3,000 to 4,000 
feet in a day of twelve hours. The modern improvements in mechanism are shown by tlie 
fact that the mills of to-day turnout from 100,000 to 150,000 feet in ten hours. In 1855 
Mr. Lane's parents came to St. Anthony with his brother Leonidas. 





I 



ISAAC C. SEE LEY. 115 

In 1856 James S. Lane built the clams and g;ang sawmills for the St. Anthony Falls Water 
Power Company, running the first gang sawmill at this point. After si.x years of energetic 
and intelligent work at this industry, Gov. Stephen Miller appointed him surveyor-general 
of logs and lumber for the second district of Minnesota ; and in 1864 Gov. William R. 
Marshall re-appointed him to the same responsible office. 

In 1870 he entered into partnership with Dr. Levi Butler, O. C. Merriman, and Leoni- 
das M. Lane, under the firm-name of L. Butler & Co., and built a sawmill of a capacity of 
150,000 feet per day of ten hours, on the falls below the site of the mills of the St. Anthony 
Falls Water Power Company, burned the year before. In 1873 Dr. Butler's interest was 
bought out, and the firm took the name of O. C. Merriman & Co., succeeded three or four 
years later by Merriman, Barrows & Co. In 1887 the mil! was destroyed by fire. 

Thus for forty years Mr. Lane has been engaged in the manufacture of lumber, begin- 
ning in the logging-camps of the remote Eastern frontier, and in due time reaching a posi- 
tion of commanding influence in the great Northwest. The industry, ingenuity, and 
sagacious effort of this long period have brought their fitting reward, and the sturdy provin- 
cial lad has won his way to a place of permanent influence in Minnesota. 

Mr. Lane has always taken a deep interest in the Masonic order, and belongs to Cata- 
ract Lodge No. 2, of which he has been master ; and also is a member of St. Anthony Falls 
Royal Arch Chapter No. 3 ; and Darius Commandery No. 7. He was for many years a 
member of Cataract Engine Company, and served as chief engineer of the St. Anthony 
Falls fire department. He has also for many years been a member of the Methodist-Episco- 
pal Church, devoted to the cause which that great organization represents, and earnest in 
advocating its advancement in all noble ways. 

Mr. Lane was married to Aubine Darman, December i, i860, the ceremony being per- 
formed by the Rev. Thomas Day, at St. Anthony. Their children were Verna (now Mrs. 
Kijgore), Minnie K., Lizzie M., Mittie Bell, Frank S., Laura Emma, and Mark D., all of 
whom were born in the same house, and are now living. 



ISAAC C. SEELEY. 

ISAAC C. SEELEY, of Minneapolis, was born January 22, 1843, in Plainwell, Allegan 
County, Michigan. His immediate ance.stors were of that brave army of pioneers 
who, in the third decade of this century, abandoned the pleasant rural country of New York 
State, to seek new homes in the then distant Western country. His father, Nathaniel 
Seeley, was born December 28, 181 1, in the town of Ballston, not far from Saratoga Springs, 
New York ; and at the age of twenty-six came westward to Michigan, where he taught the 
district school at Pine Creek in Allegan County. One of his pupils here was Sophia Ann 
Sherwood, at that time thirteen years old, having been born June 15, 1824, at Henrietta, 
Monroe County, New York. Her grandfather, Hull Sherwood, was among the earliest set- 
tlers of Western Michigan, having moved thither in 1833, and improved the water power and 



ii6 



NOR TH IVES T BIOGRAPII \ ' 



erected the first sawmill and gristmill on Pine Creek, which he chose on account of its valu- 
able mill privileges. The following year his family made the long journey westward from 
New York, and joined the pioneer in his new-found home. Libens Sherwood, his son, and 
the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, died suildcnly from lung fever, the residt of 
an all-day's chase in a deer-hunt. His daughter, Sophia Ann, was married Julv i8, 1840, to 
Nathaniel Scelcy, the bright young teacher of the district school. The large family of chil- 
dren left by Libens Sherwood were provided with liberal farm estates, most of which still 
remain in their families. 

At the age of seventeen, Isaac C. Seeley left home to attend the seminary and prepare 
for college. He worked Ids own way through the autumn term, and in the winter he taught 
school near Kalamazoo. 

The Republican parry has always been the choice of Mr. Seeley, ever since the famous 
Lincoln campaign of i860, when he held the treasurership of the Plain well Wide-Awake Com- 
pany. Although only 17 years old, and hence not a voter, he contributed to the success of 
the party by driving a carriage to bring in voters from the country, helping to" change the 
Plainwcll vote from its oidinary Democratic strength to a majority of one for Lincoln. 

When the dread trumpet-blast of war aroused the nation, and Michigan began to assem- 
ble her brave volunteers, Mr. Seeley and his friend, Alphonso Crane, were the first recruits 
from Allegan County, enlisting in the companies raised b\- Charles and Dwight May, at 
Kalamazoo. Having been refused enrolment, on account of his youth, Seeley spent si.xteen 
months in study and teaching, and then enlisted, August 14, 1862, in Company L, Fourth 
Michigan Cavalry. Late in September this regiment reached Louisville, and soon afterwards 
was engaged in Buell's campaign against Bragg, seeing its first battle at Perrysville, Ken- 
tucky, and afterwards joining in the pursuit of Gen. John Morgan's rebel cavalry into Ten- 
nessee. This rough-riding campaign, with its frequent hot fights, grievously thinned the ranks 
of the Fourth ; but Seeley had been reared on a farm, and horseback-riding was a familiar 
exercise to him, so that he never had occasion to be excused from duty. Next came the Mur- 
freesboro campaign, and the prolonged battle of Stone's River, where the brilliant charge of 
the Fourth, under the gallant Colonel Minty, and with the Seventh Pennsxlvania and Fourth 
United-States Cavalry, turned the tide of battle, and won the praise of "Old Ros\- " and his 
army. A succession of hot engagements and hard marches followed, in Tennessee, Alabama, 
and Georgia, closing with the battles of Mission Ridge and Lookout Mountain, and the 
occupation of Chattanooga. At Chickamauga, the Fourth felt the first brunt of the rebel as- 
sault, fighting and falling back by platoons, while the Union infantry was hurrying into posi- 
tion, and afterwards covering the retreat to Chattanooga. After some months at Maysville 
and Huntsville, Alabama, the regiment marched to Athens and Pulaski, Tennessee, and then 
by Huntsville and Stevenson to Chattanooga and Rossvillc. January 21, 1864, it crossed 
Pigeon Mountain and captured a Confederate outpost at Summersville, and broke up a camp 
of home-guards near Dalton. After an arduous winter of picket and forage duty, the com- 
mand reported at Nashville, and received fresh horses and equipments, and seven-shooting 
Spencer carbines, returning by Columbia, Shelbyville, and Tullahoma, and over the Cum- 
berland Mountains to Bridgeport, Alabama. Another long ritle led these hard_\- troopers 
across the Raccoon, Lookout, and Pigeon Mountains to Lafayette and Villanow, Georgia. 



ISAAC C. SEELEY. 117 

I\Iav 15, the Fourth atfacked and routed the enemy at Turner's Ferry, near Rome. On June 
20, together with the Seventh Pennsylvania, they fought the three brigades of Wheeler's cav- 
alry at Lattemore's Mill, making several heroic charges with the sabre, and fighting hand to 
hand against greatly superior forces. Here Seeley fell into the hands of the enemy, and was 
taken to Marietta, Atlanta, Macon, and Andersonvillc prison. June 24, 1864, with sixty 
other captives, he was seaixhcd in front of Wirz's headquarters and robbed of his personal 
effects. Once inside the stockade, the prisoners were divided into squads of ninety (three 
of which made a detachment), and Scelcy was chosen to take charge of the new squad and 
draw its rations. These consisted of corn-meal mush, hauled in by wagon-loads, and appor- 
tioned out, so many shovelfuls to each squad. Seeley's bo.xful, holding about half a bushel, 
was the daily rations for the squad. Being poorly cooked, and often unsalted, it made a 
meagre and scanty ration. It was his purtion to receive as an e.vtra allowance for the duties 
performed, the little that would cling to the box, and every man in the squad was interested 
to see that not too much was allowed in this wa\'. The prison comprised about sixteen acres 
of land, quarter of which was a low, marshy slough, through which ran the creek whence 
water for the prisoners was obtained, though it drained the filth of the rebel camp before 
entering the enclosure. There were, at this time, twenty-three thousand prisoners in An- 
dersonville. Very few had any shelter or blankets. Many dug holes in the ground for 
protection against the sun and rain and chilly night air. Thousands were sick with dropsy, 
scurvy, gangrene, and chronic dysentery, with little care and no medicine. The groans of 
the dying were heard on every hand. Although surrounded by leagues of forests, the pris- 
oners were very scantily supplied with wood, and ate their rations half cooked. Hundreds 
of men were-bereft of reason, and went moaning about, begging food and water, or beseech- 
ing to be shot. There was a dead-line around the prisoners' camp, made by a single railing 
on posts about twenty feet inside the stockade, and whenever an unfoitunate prisoner 
stepped or stumbled over this line he was promptly shot at by the rebel guard on the top of 
the stockade. The wretched water proved a prolific cause of the dreaded disease, d}-sen- 
tery ; and many detachments of prisoners resorted to digging wells with paddles cut out of 
wood, the dirt being hauled up in buckets made out of pieces of wood, and with ropes made 
by twisting strips of cloth taken from their scanty and ragged clothing. They were dug 
twenty or thirty feet in depth till water was found, and then only the detachments that 
owned the well could procure water, as it was unsafe to allow others to draw water, for fear 
that mouth-scurvy would be communicated. Some would be obliged to crawl down to the 
filthv creek, where they were likely to drink to excess, causing sickness and death. But 
relief came in an unexpected and providential manner. About the middle of August the 
heavy rains caused a washout which opened a spring of pure water, enough for the whole camp. 
The number of prisoners increased to over thirty thousand. After drawing corn-meal mush 
for six weeks they had a change, receiving raw rations, about a pint for two men for one 
day, of either beans, rice, or corn-meal. Many times the starving victims were too hungry 
to stop to cook their food, and ate what they received raw. One day when Captain Wirz 
came into the stockade with the ration-wagon he struck a poor fellow over the head with an iron 
gun-rod, causing his death, simply because the prisoner begged him for food. Bloodhounds 
were used to hunt down and bring back the escaped prisoners ; and whenever a man was 



ii8 NORTH WEST BIOGRAPHY. 

bitten by a dog and returned to the prison, the air was so filled with poison that gangrene 
was sure to set in, always causing death. 

It was Seeley's good fortune to get a bunk in a tenby-sixteen pen, made of poles and 
covered with a fly-tent. lie also assisted a rebel sergeant, who called the roll daily in six of the 
detachments. It was his duty to keep a roster of the dead in these six detachments, so thai 
none should be overlooked in the daily count for rations. While having this work to do, he 
kept an account of the number who died in the whole prison during the month of August, 
which was 2,960. In a single day one hundred and eighty died. While assisting tliis rebel 
sergeant (Charles Noble), he improved the opportunity of securing some luxuries from out- 
side the prison. lie had, when captured, concealed in his boots a gold pen and holder, 
which he now turned over to his rebel friend, receiving in exchange a dozen small onions, a 
pound of salt, and three navy plugs of tobacco. One plug of tobacco he exchanged for a 
frying-pan in which to cook his scanty rations. The salt was used in making tlie food pala- 
table ; and the onions were sold for twenty-five cents apiece. The two remaining plugs of 
tobacco were cut into small pieces and exchanged for rations. 

One of the dangers encountered by the new prisoners (" fresh fish " they were called) 
was caused by a band of raiders among the prisoners, who robbed, and in some instances 
murdered, new-comers, to secure their effects. A band of regulators was organized for self- 
protection, and the raiders were arrested. On the nth of July, six of them were hanged, and 
this lawlessness was thereby effectually broken up. 

There were daily rumors of an exchange about to be effected, by which the prisoners 
were to be taken from this horrible place ; and stories came of the success of Sherman's 
army, by which they were to be rescued. Groups of excited and starved prisoners, whose 
courage and physical strength had vanished with their flesh and health, discussed the two 
or three questions always uppermost, as to when and how they should be taken out of this 
" pen ; " what should they have to eat, and when should they see home again. How to get 
out ! Something to eat ! Home ! home ! home ! With hundreds, the constant dwelling 
upon these thoughts was disastrous, dethroning their reason, and leaving them hopeless 
imbeciles. Thousands, as soon as they entered the stockade, gave up in despair. Home- 
sick and heartsick, they were soon claimed by the grim monster of Death. Efforts 
were made by the prisoners to send petitions to the government, stating their condition and 
praying for relief, but they never had any response. Even the sanitary and commissary stores 
and delicacies from friends never reached them, but were seized and used by the rebel offi- 
cers. Fifty thousand prisoners were brought here, fourteen thousand taken out dead, and 
buried in a common ditch. The thirty-six thousand remaining men, starved, sick, and dying, 
mere walking skeletons, were taken out on the pretence of exchanging them, and incarce- 
rated in other prisons, to thwart their rescue by the Union Army. 

From Andersonville, on September 13, Seeley was sent to Florence military prison, in 
South Carolina, another pen similar to the Andersonville stockade, though not half so large, 
and better provided with tents and huts. There were twelve thousand prisoners confined 
there ; and the same order was observed in dividing the men into squads and detachments. 
Seeley secured a parole of honor, and with five others cut and carried wood for the twelve 
hundred sick in the hospital. Although it was severe and trying work at first, yet it seemed 



ISAAC C. SEELEY. 119 

a great boon to be allowed this semblance of liberty. About the ist of December, they 
began to take the men out for exchange, and on the 7th Seeley was included in the number 
who were sent to Charleston for exchange. On the i ith they were transferred to the fleet, 
off Charleston. A few days later, the fleet steamed out of the harbor, and, rounding 
Cape Hatteras in a storm, it reached Annapolis, Maryland. Once more these heroes stood 
in safety on Union soil, under the old flag, with friends anxious to contribute to their com- 
fort. They were clothed with new suits of blue, and drew two months' extra pay, and com- 
mutation for their rations at twenty-five cents a day for the time that they were confined. 

Seeley received a furlough and went joyfully on his way homeward, where he arrived 
December 29, 1864. An attack of typhoid pneumonia kept him on furlough for three 
months, when he rejoined the regiment at Nashville, April 6, 1865. The gallant Fourth was 
at the front, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Benjamin D. Pritchard. On the loth of 
May, Colonel Pritchard, with a detachment of the Fourth Michigan, captured Jeff Davis, near 
Abbeville, Georgia, while he with his body-guard and retinue of servants was trying to 
escape. He was first discovered by a Norwegian, Adrian Bee, a private of Company L, 
while pretending to go for water to a spring near by, wrapped in a lady's travelling cloak, 
the hood being drawn closely over his head. Thus ended in a farce the effort to establish a 
Southern confederacy, with negro slavery as its corner-stone. The regiment returned to 
Nashville, and on the 8th of July, 1S65, was mustered out of the service in which it had 
been enlisted for three years or during the war. The long struggle was ended. The Union 
soldiers discarded the equipments of war, and were in a twinkling transformed into peaceful 
citizens. 

War's alarms being past, Mr. Seeley hung up the sword, and entered the high school 
at Kalamazoo, passing in 1866 into Olivet College, from whose scientific department he 
graduated two years later. Remaining for an additional year of study, he paid his expenses 
by working in a drug-store, in which he acquired an interest, and netted enough money to 
advance him still further in his studies. He then devoted himself to reading law at the Law 
School of Michigan University, at Ann Arbor, under the direction of the Hon. Dwight May, 
attorney-general of the State, and of Severns & Burrows of Kalamazoo. He also received 
valuable aid and encouragement from Hon. Thomas M. Cooley, whose lectures on constitu- 
tional law, contracts, and real property, furnished a reasonable foundation for the choice 
made of real estate as a business. Graduating at the law school, Mr. Seeley received the 
degree of Bachelor of Law in 1S71. From Olivet College he had won also the degrees of 
Bachelor of Science in 1868 and ALaster of Science in 1871. 

For a year he practised his profession in Plainwcll, and then started for Minnesota, 
pausing for six weeks in Milwaukee to secure means for the onward journey. He consum- 
mated a favorable arrangrment with the Home Life Lisurance Company of New York, as 
special agent, with headquarters at Minneapolis. At the end of his three months' contract, 
he became superintendent of agencies for the Security Life Lisurance Company of New 
York, for Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska. His salary was augmented three times during 
the year, until it reached eighteen hundred dollars a year, with expenses paid. During his 
first trip, in the fall of 1872, to Duluth, he made the phenomenal success of writing policies 
to the amount of ^100,000 within two weeks. For seven years following (1873-1879) he had 



I20 



NOR Til 1 1 -TS T niOGRA PIl V. 



desk-room in the real-estate office of E. S. Corser & Co . at Minneapolis; and here he 
found opportunities for the profitable investment of his capital. In these ventures he 
doubled his money, sometimes as often as once in three months, and almost always within a 
year. The principles of safe and successful real-estate investment were learned in this 
office, and from Mr. I-". .S. Corser, the senior partner; and one of these cardinal principles 
was the improvement of all inside property held for any length of time. In carrying out 
this sagacious policy, Mr. Seeley has erected in the city upwards of one hundred houses and 
stores. Prominent among these stands the Domestic Building, the first Minneapolis structure 
with a front entirely of stone, and erected in 1880 for George Blake of the Domestic Sewing- 
Machine Company. Here Mr. Seeley also opened his own office, the headquarters of manv 
brilliant enterprises for advancing the material interests of the city, in opening up, platting, and 
improving new and attractive residence localities, establishing new manufacturing industries, 
and erecting handsome and commodious dwellings and stores. In these wa\-s Mr. Seeley has 
borne a prominent part in developing Minneapolis from the frontier town of 20,000 inhabi- 
tants in 1872, to the present beautiful metropolis of the Northwest with its 200,000 inhabitants. 
The Minnetonka-I.ake Park and its great hotel were projected and undertaken by an asso- 
ciation wiiicli soon went down under the load, and then the property was purchased and all 
the debts paid off, thus preserving foi- Minneapolis a beautiful summer-resort, which has 
attracted thousands of tourists from the cities of the East and South. 

The style of the firm is I. C. .Seeley & Co., the other partner being Mr. W. J. Bishopp, 
formerly of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Their business is in real-estate loans and insurance. 

Mr. Seeley was married February 9, 1S76, to Mrs. Julia M. Willard. The service was 
performed at Northficld, Minnesota, by President J. \V. Strong of Carlcton College. 

Mr. Seeley has for many years been a member of the Congregational Church, the reli- 
gious faith of his ancestors, and is connected with Plynioutli Church. lie has been deeply 
interested in the establishment of neu- religious societies in the suburbs of the city, as well 
as in Christian work among the newsboys and bootblacks, in the mission Sunday-schools, and 
in the various operations of the Young Men's Christian Association. 



DANIEL R. BARBER. 



AMONG the active pioneers of the great Northwest there have been no better or truer 
men than those who have migrated from far-awa\' New- England, exchanging the nar- 
row lioiizons and sterile fields of their native hills for the free and boundless prairies, the 
lovely lakes, and the noble woodlands of Minnesota and her sister States. The subject of 
this brief sketch was one of these adventurous Argonauts, whose brave and sturdy efforts 
have raised a great civilized empire amitl the lonely hunting-grounds of a few barbarous 
Indians. He was born February 14, 1S17, at llenson, Rutland County, Vermont, among the 
lofty and picturesque Green Mountains, in the old days the home of Ethan Allen and his 
band of heroes. The Barber family traces its annals far back into the Colonial era, and its 




/^/^. ^.^^u^ 



DANIEL R. BARBER. 121 

members served with honor in the days when New England was on the Indian frontier of 
America. 

Mr. Barber was the son of Roswell and Aurelia (Mimson) Barber. His early years were 
divided between the labors of his father's farm and the lessons of the district school, as was 
the custom with Vermont country lads. But at the age of twenty-five he had attained such 
a place and position that he was enabled to buy the largest general store in his native village ; 
and here he abode for ten industrious years, giving such faithful attention to the details of 
managing a country store that he amassed the sum of ten thousand dollars, almost a compe- 
tence in those simple days. But his ambition reached far beyond this goal, and dreamed of 
broader achievements in regions where opportunities were greater and more remunerative. 
In the year 1855 he turned his face toward the setting sun, and traversed Illinois and Wis- 
consin, an interested spectator of the growth of those great States. Entering Minnesota at 
last, he visited St. Anthonv, named after the great falls of the Mississippi, and perceived 
with a prescient mind that here was destined to rise one of the greatest of American cities. 
He made a careful study of the region, and resolved to become a citizen of this hopeful and 
promising country. In tlie spring of 1856 he returned to the little Green-Mountain village, 
and took his family and went westwaixl again. 

Mr. Barber was married in February, 1845, by the Rev. Rufus Cushman, to Miss Ellen 
L. Bottum of Orwell, Vermont. They have had two children, Julia and Edwin. 

Settling at St. Anthony, Mr. Barber engaged in the real-estate business, until the panic 
of 1S57 unsettled values so far as to render this a precarious means of earning a livelihood. 
He therefore returned to mercantile life, conducting a grocer\' store for several years, and 
then a dry-goods store. Meantime his fellow-citizens honored him by placing him for eleven 
successive years in the office of city assessor. 

In 1S71 Mr. Barber bought the Cataract Flour Mill, which he operated in conipanv 
with his son-in-law, Mr. Gartlncr, until that gentleman died. Then he associated with 
him his son Edwin, under the firm name of D. R. Barber & Son. The Cataract is the 
oldest flour mill in Minneapolis, and through the changes and vicissitudes of many years it 
has led the way in introducing improvements in processes of manufacturing, tending to 
produce better qualities ami grades of flour. The products of this mill are favorably known 
in every market. 

In 1880 Mr. Barber was stricken with paralysis. Every mode of treatment known to 
medical science was resorted to, but without success : and after failing for several years he 
departed this life April 17, 1886. 

As before mentioned, during his youth he attended the district school at his native 
village. When hefcad outgrown this school he studied at the seminary at Castleton, Ver- 
mont. After leaving Castleton he intended to enter college, but this plan was never carried 
out, for a severe inflammation of the eyes compelled him to stop all study. His course in life 
was thus turned aside, for he never afterward had the opportunity of entering college. 

In politics he was a Republican, but voted for principle before part}-. Under a Demo- 
cratic president he served several years as postnwster at his native town, resigning the office 
when he went West. 

In meeting with men and women, there are always points of character with which we 



122 



XOR TH I J •/;:S T B I OCR A PII V. 



first become acquainted before we reach the real self : points which impress themselves upon 
us, and by which we judge and get our first impression. It is a common saying that first 
impressions are usually correct estimates ; this is so, for these points which we notice are 
the indices and strongest marks of the character, and character is the expression of the 
thoughts of the soul. A man meeting and talking with Mr. 15arber for the first time would 
have found him to be a little reserved and slow to form a friendship or to give a confidence. 
Hence he would think, " This is a conservative man, and understands human nature." 
After a long acquaintance, and after closer friendship had formed, he would notice his liking 
for the society of old friends and his genial bearing toward them, and, if privileged to enter 
the home, would find there the happiest spot which Mr. Barber ever knew. He would find 
him an honest man ; a man to be trusted in the sacred bonds of friendship ; a man who 
knew the value of integrity and faithfulness ; a man who valued more than most men the 
purity of a happy home and the counsel of a noble wife. In short, he would find him to be 
a man who looked out over the whole field of life and valued it as one believing in his own 
soul and in immortality should do. No man left a name freer from stain than Mr. Barber 
did, and none can say but that his earthly treasure was gained without a dishonest act. 

He was for some years a member of Plymouth Congregational Church of Minneapolis, 
and, resting in the faith, early imbibed, in eternal life, he left our earth, and men are the bet- 
ter that he lived, for his good deeds were not buried with him, but are remembered by his 
fellow-travellers to-day. 



WILLIAM H. EUSTIS. 



IT is astonishing how much an energetic man of business can accomplish by methodical 
working and the careful economy of time. In addition to these ordinary working- 
qualities, the business man of the highest class requires sound discretion, quick perception, 
and firmness in the execution of his plans. Business tact is also important, and, though this 
is partly the gift of nature, it is yet capable of being cultivated and developed by observa- 
tion and experience. 

The subject of this sketch, like most of our successful business men, sprang from a humble 
position in life, and is a happy illustration of what may be done under adverse circumstances. 
Step by step, he rose in his profession slowly but surely to eminence, which ever follows a 
career of industry, honorably and energetically pursued, in the legal as in every other field of 
useful occupation. 

William II. Eustis was born in Jefferson County, New York, July 17, 1S47. He is of 
English origin, his father, Tobias Eustis, having emigrated to America in 1839. His mater- 
nal parent, Mary, daughter of William Markwich, was likewise a native of England. When 
the subject of this sketch was a mere child, the father removed to Hammond, St'. Lawrence 
County, New York, where the family has since resided. Here the worthy parents toiled 
laboriously for the welfare of a large family of little children, the father devoting himself to 





c^^/ 



RICHARD CHUTE. 123 

his trade, that of a wheelwright. At an early age, ill health prevented the son from being 
apprenticed to some trade or mechanical pursuit. 

In 1865, with a common-school education, he left the parental home to pursue a course 
of study in the Wesleyan Seminar)-, where he graduated in 1870. The following year he 
entered the Wesleyan University, where he graduated in 1873. In 1874 William H. Eustis 
graduated at Columbia Law School, and the same year he was admitted to the New-York 
bar. It was in the dull but unflinching drudgery of the early part of his career that he laid 
the foundation of his future success. For years he had struggled on to obtain an education, 
and enter upon the practice of his chosen profession. He was a man who never missed an 
opportunity, nor allowed a legitimate chance of improvement to escape him. After long 
waiting in his professional calling, business gradually came in. Acquitting himself creditably 
in small matters, he was intrusted with cases of greater importance. The clouds had dis- 
persed, and the after carcfr of William H. Eustis was one of honor and triumphant success. 

In 1875 Mr. Eustis formed a law partnership with John R. Putnam, now Judge Putnam, 
of Saratoga Springs, till 1881. In i88i he was admitted to the United-States Supreme 
Court. After spending some months in Europe, he finally settled, on his return to America, 
in Minneapolis, where he has since continued the practice of law, and engaged e.xtensively 
also in outside business. 

The life of Mr. Eustis affords another illustration of the power of patience, perse- 
verance, and conscientious working in elevating the character of the individual, and crown- 
ing his labors with the most complete success. 



RICHARD CHUTE. 

THE instances of men in this country who, by dint of persevering application and energy, 
have raised themselves from the humblest ranks of industry to eminent positions of 
usefulness and influence in society, are indeed so numerous that they have long ceased to be 
regarded as exceptional. 

Richard Chute, like most of our eminent business men, sprang from the ranks. Self- 
reliance, energy, activity, and perseverance were his only inherited capital. The indefati- 
gable industry of the subject of this sketch is well known. His business career has 
extended over a period of upwards of thirty years, during which he has ranged over many 
fields of public and private enterprise, and achieved distinction in them all. 

Richard Chute was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, September 23, 1820. The patronymic of 
his parentage, on both sides, comes of English ancestors, some of whom have lived on this 
continent since 1634. The genealogy of both his paternal and maternal ancestry is sub- 
joined at the close of this memoir. 

Until seven years of age, Richard was a pupil in his father's school in his native city. 
In 1827, his father having been appointed chaplain in the Ohio State Prison, the family took 
up a temporary residence in the city of Columbus, where he still continued his studies under 



>-4 



NOR 7 HIVES T BIOGRA PH V 



the tuition of his father. The acti^'ity and bent of the lad's mind may be inferred from the 
fact that when he was eleven years of age, he was nearly prepared to enter college; but at 
that time a change in the circumstoiic-es of his father ma'kcd out a new channel for his 
activity. 

In 1831, the father being called to the pastorate of the I-'irst Presbyterian Church at 
I'ort Wayne, Indiana, the family removed thither, and Richard entered, as clerk, the service 
of Messrs. Hanna & Co. The members of this firm seem to have been men of fine charac- 
ter; and to their counsel and example are due, no doubt, the aptitude and interest which 
developed themselves as the boy grew to manhood. He remained in the employ of the 
aforesaid firm until 1836, when he resigned his clerkship ; trusting to find some opportunity, 
where, striking out for himself, he could to a great extent direct his own independent course. 
Although still a youth, he felt quite able to make his way wherever industry, talent, and 
probity were wanted ; he sought and embraced transient opportunities for business in Del- 
]5hi, Lafayette, and Independence, Indiana; and, after a brief sojourn in the respective 
cities of Natchez and Mobile, returned to Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1839, having spent three 
years in these various localities in search of permanent business. 

In 1841 Mr. Chute formed a partnership with William G. Ewing in the fur-trade. In 
1844 the firm built a house at St. Anthony, which, for several years, was used as a trading- 
post. From 1841 to 1854 Mr. Chute visited during the autumn of each year, in pursuit of 
Ills fur business, Minnesota, Iowa, and many other interesting localities of the Northwest. 
After the death of his partner in 1854, Mr. Chute established himself in St. Anthony, and 
until 1868 had charge of the property, since owned by the St. Anthony Water Power Com- 
pany. While travelling in pursuit of his fur enterprise, Mr. Chute was present at the form- 
ing of several treaties with Indians. He was at Agency City, Iowa, when the treaty was 
concluded with the Sac and Fo.x tribe, by which they ceded to the government all their lands 
in Iowa Territory ; he was also at Washington when the treaty was made with the Winne- 
bagoes in 1846. In early days he took a lively interest in railroad matters, and was among 
the incorporators of some of the companies. In 1854, as contractor, he constructed the 
Wabash Valley Railroad, from the forks of the Wabash to Lagro, Indiana. 

In 1859 Mr. Chute was commissioned, by Gov. H. H. Sibley, colonel of the Seventeenth 
Regiment Minnesota Militia, and in 1862 he was quartermaster of an expedition from Fort 
Snelling to the Chippewa countrv, under General Dale. Subsequently, in the capacity of 
lieutenant-colonel, he visited President Lincoln and Secretary Stanton at Washington City, 
in regard to matters connected with the Indians. From 1863 to 1865 he was provost-mar- 
shal of Hennepin County; and in 1863 he was appointed by Governor Swift regent of the 
University of the State of Minnesota. In 1857 he was one of the incorporators of the 
Minnesota & Pacific Railroad Company ; and, when re-organized as the St. Paul & Pacific 
Railway, he was director until 1868. In 1856 he was one of the incorporators in the St. 
Anthony Falls Water Power Company, and one of its directors ; and many years its agent, 
secretary, and treasurer. Mr. Chute was president of this corporation from 1868 to 18S0. 
He was one of the incorporators in the Minnesota Southern Railroad Company; and direc- 
tor and secretary in the Minnesota Western Railroad Company ; and likewise director in the 
St. Louis & St. Pau'. Railway ; he was offered its presidency in 1868. 



RICI/AKD CHUTE. - 125 

Diinng many years he has been a worthy member of the fraternity of Odd Fellows, 
and has held high positions in that order. In 1845 Mr. Chute united with the First Presby- 
terian Church at Fort Wayne, Indiana ; and in 1855 he was ordained an elder in the Cen- 
tral Presbyterian Church of St. Paul ; and in 1857 an elder in the First Presbyterian Church 
of St. Anthony. In 1S62 he was lay commissioner from the Presbytery of St. Paul to the 
General Assembly at Columbus, Ohio, and also, in 1876, to Brooklyn, New York. 

Mr. Chute has made himself familiar with everv section of the United States, havin<r trav- 
clled in every State and Territory of the Union, save that of Alaska. He was greatly 
instrumental in promoting the passage of the railroad " Land Grant Bill" in 1857, and sub- 
sequently devoted much time in the Federal City promoting public enterprises. 

February 28, 1850, Mr. Chute formed a matrimonial alliance with Miss Mary Eliza 
Young of Fort Wayne, Indiana. They have three children, two sons and one daughter. 

As a capitalist, Mr. Chute, of late years, has given most of his time to works of public 
utility, as well as private emoluments. 

The subjoined record e.vhibits the family genealogy. James Chute, the father of Rich- 
ard, was born at Bo.^ford, Massachusetts, November 15, 1788. lie was the son of James 
Chute of Byfield, Massachusetts, born 1757, and married Miss Mehitable Thurston of Row- 
ley, Massachusetts: who was the son of D.inicl Chute of Byfield, born 1722, and married 
H.innah Adams, of Ncwbuiy, Massachusetts : who was the son of James Chute of Byfield ; 
married Mary Thurston, of Newbury, Massachusetts : who was the son of James Chute of 
Byfield ; married Mary Wood in 168 1 : who was the son of James Chute, register of deeds 
in Salem, Massachusetts ; married Miss Epps of Ipswich : who was the son of Lionel Chewte 
of England, who married Miss Baker, and emigrated to New England in 1634 : who was 
the son of Lionel Chewte, who married the daughter of Mr. Greene : who was the son of 
Anthony Chewte ; married Miss Gee : who was the son of Charles Chewte ; married Miss 
Cripse : who was the son of Robert Chewte ; married Miss Jane Lucos : who was the son of 
Edmund Chewte, of Susse.v, England ; who sold the Alanor of Taunton to Lord Donhare : 
who was the son of Charles Chewte, who married the daughter of Sir John Chang in 1480: 
who was the son of Robert Chewte, of Taunton, England, who married Miss Bartley in 
1438 : who was the son of Henry Chewte ; married Miss Hasherfield : who was the son of 
Edward Chewte ; who married Miss Sturlon in 1379: who was the son of Ambrose Chewte, 
who married Annabelle, the daughter of Sir John Chittester : who was the son of George 
Chewte ; married the daughter of Thomas Faril in 1344: who was the son of Philip Chewte, 
of Taunton, PLngland, who married the daughter of Sir John Brittan : who was the son of 
Edward Chewte, of Taunton ; married the daughter of Sir John Chiddock in 1308 : who was 
the son of John Chewte, of Taunton, England, who married Jane, daughter of Sir John 
Bromfield : who was the son of Alexander Chewte, of Taunton, England, in the county of 
Somerset, in 1268. 

The maternal parent of Richard, Martha Hewes Clapp, was born at Roxbury, Massa- 
chusetts, in 1798. She was the daughter of William Tileston Clapp, who was born in Bos- 
ton, Massachusetts, .September 14, 1770; married Miss Lucretia, daughter of Shubel and 
Martha Hewes, born in Boston, .^pril i, 1775, and who died at Ro.xbnry, Massachusetts, 
April 4, 1857. William Tileston Cl.ipp died at New Orleans in 1820. He was the son of 



126 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

William Clapp, born in Dorchester, 1745, died 177S : who was the son of Ebenczer Clapp, 
jun., born 1705 ; married the daughter of Joiin Pierce, 1728 ; died in 1752 : who was the son 
of Ebenezer Clapp, sen., born in 1678 ; died in 1750, leaving a large estate : who was the son of 
Nathaniel Clapp, born in 1640; married Elizabeth Smith in 1668; died in 1707: who was 
the son of Nicholas Clapp, born in England in 1612, and emigrated to Massachusetts, being 
one of the early settlers of Dorchester. He died 1679. ^"^'s father was Richard Clapp of 
England. 



HON. CHAUNCEY WRIGHT GRIGGS. 

CHAUNCEY WRIGHT GRIGGS, of St. Paul, Minnesota, since June 4, 1S88, resident 
of Tacoma, Washington Territory, was born December 31, 1S32, in the town of Tol- 
land, Tolland County, Connecticut. He is the fourth and next to the youngest child of Chaun- 
cey Gnggs, born in Tolland, as above, April 10, 1795, died in Detroit, Michigan, December 1 1, 
1866, who married, March 10, 1822, Hearty Dimock, fifth child of Capt. Daniel Dimock, of South 
Coventry, Tolland County, Connecticut ; born in Tolland, as abo\e ; died in Detroit, Michigan. 
On both his father's and mother's side, C. W. Griggs is connected with good old Puiitan stock. 
On his father's side the chain of descent is : i. Thomas Griggs, at Ro.xbury, Massachusetts, in 
1639; 2. Joseph, younger son of foregoing (1625-1715), lived at Muddy Brook, tlicn a part 
of Boston, was selectman of the town two terms, served as member of town committees, etc. : 
eight children ; 3. Ichabod, youngest son of foregoing (1675-1718), lived in Brookline and 
Ro.xbury ; married Margaret Bishop, of Ipswich, Massachusetts : nine children ; 4. Ichabod 
(i7i8-I\Iay g, 1790), lived at Norwich, Connecticut, removed to Tolland, Connecticut, about 
1744 ; deacon of the church there, representative in the General Assembly three sessions, 
selectman five years : three children ; 5. Ichabod, second child of foregoing (June 7, 1744- 
September 30, 1776), ensign in the War of the Revolution, died and buried m New Rochelle, 
New York ; married Mary Hatch, daughter of Joseph Hatch, jun.; home in Tolland, Con- 
necticut : five children ; 6. Stephen, tiiird child of foregoing (October 3, 1769-December 14, 
1856), married, March 18, 1792, Elizabeth Lathrop, daughter of Solomon Lathrop of Tolland, 
selectman one year, captain of a militia company ; home in Tolland : six children ; 7. Chaun- 
cey (C. W. Griggs's father), second child of foregoing, lived till late in life in Tolland, re- 
moved thence to Detroit, Michigan, where he had living two sons and a daughter, and where 
he died December 11, 1866, at the home of his daughter, widow of Guerdon O. Williams, a 
wealthy and respected citizen of Detroit. Representative in the General Assembly two ses- 
sions, judge of the Probate Court for district of Tolland two years, and, hence, often 
called Judge Griggs, also for fourteen years a justice of the peace, captain of a militia com- 
pany formed for service in the Dorr Rebellion. 

On his mother's side the chain of descent is as follows : i. Elder Thomas Dimmock, first 
settler of that name, and common ancestor of the Dimocks of New England. Through him 
they trace their kinship to the Dymockes, of England, a name applied to the hereditary 
champion of English kings ; and through him also C. W. Griggs is one of the heirs to the 



HON. CHAUNCEY WRIGHT GRIGGS. 127 

Dimock estate of some ^19,000,000, now held in the Bank of England ; died at Barnstable, 
Massachusetts, 165S. "He was identified with the early history of the town (Barnstable). 
The leading man, and in some way connected with all of the acts of tlie first settlers. Assist- 
ant justice of the County Court, one of the Council of War, lieutenant of the militia, ruling 
elder of the church, the town's first representative" {see Amos Otis, in his " History of Barn- 
stable") ; 2. Deacon Shubacl Dimmock (1644-1 732), selectman and deputy of the County 
Court of Barnstable for two years, also ensign of the militia. Later, selectman, deacon, and 
otherwise prominent in Windham, Massachusetts, where he died ; 3. Captain Thomas 
Dimmock (1664-1697), killed in the French and Indian Wars at battle of Causo, 
September 9, 1697, a gallant and fearless officer; 4. Ensign Thomas Dimmock (1698-1741), 
died in the king's service at Cuba ; 5. Desire Dimock, who married her cousin, Timothy 
Dimock, of South Coventry, Connecticut; 6. Captain Daniel Dimock {1767-1833), lived at 
South Coventry ; married Anna Wright of Mansfield ; 7. Hearty Dimock, December 24, 
1794 — C. W. Griggs's mother. 

After about 1750, the Griggs family was identified with the history of Tolland, Connec- 
ticut, as was the Dimock family with that of South Coventry. Both families were promi- 
nent in the civil, military, and ecclesiastical life of their times and places, so much so that 
we expect to find C. W. Griggs, as by right of birth, a worthy civilian, a prominent church- 
man, and a soldier — and such he is in history. 

Mr. Griggs received a good common-school education at Tolland, and after a short 
clerkship in Ohio, when fifteen years old, returned to complete his education at the Monson 
Academy. Another year's schooling he had at a business college in Detroit, Michigan, 
where his aptness at figures, his energy, and his ready grasp of business principles, enabled 
him to complete in one year, and with high honors, the regular three-years course. At 
school, as in active life, he showed a bent for business, a love and an aptitude for the practi- 
cal. A year's experience as a teacher in a New-England school should be mentioned as an 
educator. He there showed the same ready control of men and circumstances which marks 
his later histor)'. 

After his experience as a teacher, when nineteen years old, he opened in Tolland a 
supply store, in partnership with an elder brother, but soon came West in search of a larger 
field and broader prospects. He sjient some time in Detroit in the banking business, then 
in Ohio in the mercantile line, later in Iowa, and back again in Detroit with his brother in 
the furniture business. Finally, in 1856, we find him in St. Paul, engaged in the grocery 
business, but figuring prominently also as a real-estate dealer, government contractor, and 
coal and wood merchant. Between 1863 and 1870, he was located at Chaska, Minnesota, as a 
manufacturer of brick, and dealer in coal, wood, and in supplies generally. From 1861 to 
1863, he served his country in the Western Division, and won what is now his more usual 
title of colonel. 

The above sketch tells the story of his successes, and which finds a parallel in the life 
of most successful Western men. We find the reason for his success in the great breadth 
and versatility of his business life, in his readiness to undertake half a dozen or more differ- 
ent interests, and in his ability to watch and foster and successfully conduct them. In per- 
son he is of fine presence, well proportioned, well and neatly dressed, and of an erect, ener- 



128 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

getic carriage, which tells of his soldier life. His business interests at present aggregate 
some hundred thousands in value, and bind him closely to the city's life in its present and 
future. As a director of the First and Second National Banks, and vice-president of tiie St. 
Paul National, and from his active interest in banking since 1S72, he figures prominently in 
the history of banking in the United States, and is deservedly remembered as such in 
Sidney Dean's elegant and elaborate History of Banking and Banks, published in 1884. 

He is also and has for three terms, of two years each, been re-appointed a member of 
the Board of Water Commissioners, and is rightly proud of his membership on a board which 
has given the city the finest supply of water in the Northwest, and established the financial 
department on an economical anil i)a\ing basis, being a source of a considerable revenue to the 
city. Since 1878 he has been senior partner of the firm of Griggs & Foster, successors to Griggs 
& Johnson, which latter firm succeeded Hill, Griggs & Co., this last concern dating from 1868. 
His connection with this, the largest retail concern of the kind in the city, and as president 
with the wholesale concern, The Lehigh Coal & Iron Co., mark him as a leading merchant. 
Since 1883 he has also figured in business circles as a wholesale grocer, and is at present a 
special partner in the firm of Yanz, Griggs & Howes, which house, employing seventy-five 
persons, and witii a jiationagc all over the Northwest, is quoted as one of the largest con- 
cerns of the kind in the city. In April, 1887, Colonel Griggs withdrew entirely from the coal 
business, after having figured prominently as a coal and wood merchant for more than twenty 
years. It is characteristic of the energy of the man that in the spring of 1888, at the age 
of fifty-six years, and after a residence in St. Paul of nearly twenty-two years, he determined 
to move again into new fields and link his fortunes with thousands of others who have an 
abiding confidence in the future of Tacoma, the "City of Destiny." Associated with Henry 
Hewitt, jun., the niillionnaire lumberman of Menasha, Wisconsin, and with others. Colonel 
Griggs, in May, 1888, secured a contract for the purchase of some eight billion feet of the 
finest fir and cedar standing on the Pacific slope. The St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. was 
immediately organized, with headquarters at Tacoma. When fully equipped and running, 
the company will employ from 5000 to 7000 men, and cut fron: 150,000,000 to 200,000,000 
feet yearly. The members of the company have all arranged to move to Tacoma, and have 
purchased large interests in other local enterprises, as banks, real estate, and railroads. 
Though at present a resident of Tacoma and thoroughly interested in its present and future. 
Colonel Griggs still retains large investments East. He is president of the Beaver-Dam 
Lumber Co., located at Cumberland, Wisconsin, and cutting about 100,000,000 feet of lum- 
ber yearly. He is financially interested in St. Paul as holder of considerable stock in the 
P'irst and Second National Banks, and of some valuable business and also residence prop- 
erty in the citv. 

April 19, 1859, li^ ^^'^s married to Martha Ann Gallup, at Ledyard, Connecticut, by Rev. 
Timothy Tutllc, pastor of the Congregational Church. Martha Ann Gallup is the eldest child 
of Christopher Milton Gallup, of Ledyard, Connecticut, one of New luigland's sturdy, inde- 
pendent farmers, with Welsh blood in his veins. One of St. I'aul's local historians, but hav- 
ing something more than a local reputation. Major T. M. Newson, has described her as "an 
elegant woman of superior ability, of remarkable energy and charming manners, a young- 
old settler, so to speak, whose influence has always been for good." She too is of Revolu- 



\ 



HON. CHAUNCEY WRIGHT GRIGGS. 129 

tionary and Puritan stock, many of her ancestors figuring prominently in our struggle for 
independence. The Stantons, with whom she is connected by both father and mother, fur- 
nished many Revolutionary heroes. An early ancestor, Thomas Stanton, is remembered as 
the commonwealth's interpreter in conferences with the Narragansett and Pequot Indian 
tribes. At the fight at Fort Griswold in 1781, two uncles, Daniel and Enoch Stanton, were 
killed, and other Stantons and Gallups figured there. 

In religion he is a Congregationalist, and always a pillar in the financial department. 
He has served as trustee of the church and as church treasurer. His money, his counsel 
and experience, are always drawn upon in time of need, and whenever any financial step is 
mooted, and the call has never failed of response. More than once his church in its infancy 
and weakness has been saved by his personal work and open purse. He has been a master 
Mason since 1857. He is blessed with a social nature, can appreciate a good story and 
enjoy a hearty laugh. He is fond of social games, and enters into all of them with the 
energy which characterizes his business life, enjoying particularly the old-time reels, quad- 
rilles, and quicksteps, and entering into them with a spirit and zest which put the youth of 
to-day to shame. He is a member of the Minnesota Club, a union of the best class of citizens 
in the city, a particularly social organization, and one that finds countless opportunities for 
entertainment of friends and visitors. 

In politics Mr. Griggs is a Democrat ; he was a war Democrat in 1861, and since then has 
been an earnest, consistent Democrat, but governed always by principles of reform and a con- 
trolling desire for the general good. His influence within the party in Minnesota, and par- 
ticularly in St. Paul, has been marked, but that of the committee-man, energetic and persis- 
tent in the interest of necessary measures, rather than a demagogue. As a prominent 
Democrat he was chosen marshal of the grand Democratic procession of 1884 in honor of 
President Cleveland's election, and has at times been sent on with the presidential delegations 
to watch the interests of the constituency at home. He has served twice as member of the 
House, three terms as senator, and was for seven years an alderman of St. Paul ; and he can 
look back with pride to the growth of the city during his term of office, and to measures passed 
during his senatorship as to effects about which he was unwearyingly busy. His official ser- 
vices have been as senator from Carver County, 1867-69 inclusive; senator, representing a 
portion of St. Paul, 1S83-86 inclusive ; member of the House for Ramsey County, 1881-82 
inclusive; alderman of St. Paul, 1878-1882; member of Board of Water Commissioners of 
St. Paul, 1882 to date, and still continues a member ; vice-president of State Building Asso- 
ciation since 1879. He is also a trustee of Plymouth Congregational Church. 

Mr. Griggs's war record is conspicuous and honorable. He enlisted as private in the Third 
Minnesota Infantry, November 7, 1861, and was promoted captain of Company B., November 
10, 1861 ; major, May i, 1862 ; lieutenant-colonel, May 29, 1862 ; and colonel, December i, 1862. 
This regiment, organized in October, 1861, was first commanded by Col. Henry C. Lester 
of Winona. Ordered to Nashville, Tennessee, in March, 1862, and there used as a part of the 
Western Division, and for a time occupied before Vicksburg under Grant. July 13, 1862, 
this regiment's record was much injured by an injudicious, weak, and unwarranted surrender 
at Murfreesboro, Tennessee ; Colonel Lester and a majority of the staff-officers voting a 
surrender against the general wish of the soldiers, and the votes and earnest effort of C. W. 



130 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

Griggs, then lieutenant-colonel, Captain (afterwards Brigadier-General) C. C. Andrews, and 
Captain Hoit. For this weakness Colonel Lester was dismissed and afterwards disappears 
from history. "Then Griggs," to quote from Gen. R. W. Johnson's "Reminiscences," "a 
brave, gallant soldier, was appointed colonel ; and, had he remained in the service, would have 
worn one or more stars." July 15, 1863, Colonel Griggs resigned on account of sickness, 
ha\ing suffered in a Rebel prison. 

Colonel Griggs's extended business interests in this country have led him frequently 
back and forth across the northern United States, and have made him perfectly familiar with 
the resources and prospects of that section of the country. So that he is quite at home in the 
large cities T^ast ami the broad prairies and mountainous territories West, as in Central 
Minnesota. His war experiences have made him familiar with the central United States, and 
his prominence in politics with the life and movement in Washington. 

In the summer of 1883, Colonel Griggs took a much needed rest in luirope, accompany- 
ing his family on an extended tour of the continent and England. But recent travel through 
the wonders of our National Park, and in the constant presence of the grand old Rockies, 
has convinced him that nature is nowhere as beautifully or grandly dressed as right here in 
the great Northwest. 



CHRISTOPHER B. HEFFELFINGER. 

BIOGRAPHIES of great but especially of good men are, nevertheless, most instructive 
and useful, as helps, guides, and incentives to others. Some of the best are almost 
equivalent to Gospels ; teaching high living, high thinking, and energetic action for their 
own and the world's good. American biography is studded over with illustrious examples 
of the power of self-culture, of patient purpose, resolute working, and steadfast integrity, 
issuing in the formation of truly noble and manly character, exhibiting in language not to 
be misunderstood what it is in the power of each to accomplish for himself, and illustrating 
the efficacy of self-respect and self-reliance in enabling men under the most adverse circum- 
stances to work out for themselves an honorable competency and a solid reputation. 

Both the civil and military careers of Christopher B. Heffelfinger, the subject of this 
memoir, arc confirmations of the foregoing reflections. He was born January 13, 1834, in 
Hopewell Township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. His paternal parent, William Heffel- 
finger, was born in 1798. His maternal parent, it^c Margaret Bristile, in 1803. They were 
marrietl in 1823. The educational privileges of Mr. Heffelfinger in his early years were very 
limited. His boyhood days, from the age of twelve to eighteen, were given to farm life. At 
this period the activity and bent of his mind may be inferred from the fact that when he was 
eighteen years of age he engaged in business, from 1852 until 1857, when he removed to 
Minneai)olis, Minnesota, where he continued his former mechanical occupation until i860. 
In i86r, at the breaking out of the Rebellion, after a brief visit to his jiarental home in 
Pennsylvania, he returned to Minnesota and enlisted, April 19, 1861, and was mustered into 



CHRISTOPHER B. HEFFELFINGER. 13' 

ihe United-States service at Fort Snelling, as sergeant of Company D., First Regiment of 
Minnesota Infantry. At the call of the government for two hundred and fifty thousand vol- 
unteers, he re-enlisted at Fort Snelling for a term of three years, to date from his previous 
enlistment. To go into the details of his war record, and to narrate all the thrillingly 
interesting incidents in which it abounds, would require a volume. Nothing more, therefore, 
will be auempted than a brief summary of his military career. During the term of his 
three years' enlistment he was an active participant in all the weary marches, privations, and 
.-nc^ao-ements of the First Minnesota Regiment in its connection with the Army of the 

Potomac. 

The following is an outline of the various skirmishes and battles in which he was engaged 
from 1861 to the closeof 1863. Bull Run, Virginia, July 21, 1861 ; Ball's Bluff, Virginia, Octo- 
ber 21, 1861 ; siege of Yorktown, Virginia, April, 1862 ; West Point, Virginia, May 7, 1S62; 
Fair Oaks, Virginia, June i, 1862; Peach Orchard, Virginia, June 20, 1S62 ; Savage Station, 
Virginia, June 29, 1862 ; Glendale, Virginia, June 30, 1862 ; White-Oak Swamp, Virginia, June 
30,°i862; Malvern Hill, Virginia, July i, 1862; reconnoissance under General Hooker, 
August 5,' 1862 ; Vienna, Virginia, September 2, 1862 ; Antietam, September,;, 1862 ; Charlcs- 
towm, Virginia, October 16, 1862 ; Fredericksburg, Virginia, December 13, 1862, and May 3, 
1863 ; Haymarket, Virginia, June 25, 1863 ; Gettysburg, Penn.sylvania, July 2 and 3, 1863 ; Bris- 
toe Station, October 14, 1863 ; Mine Run, Virginia, November 27, 1S63. In 1862 he was pro- 
moted to the rank of first lieutenant, and at the battle of Antietam, September 17, 1862, 
assumed the command of Captain Smith, who had been wounded and disabled. On August 8, 
1863, in consideration of meritorious services, he was promoted to the rank of captain, a posi- 
tion he retained from date of commission till mustered out of service in 1864, as captain of Fu'st 
Regiment at Fort Snelling. At the battle of Fredericksburg, and also at that of Gettysburg, 
he "was wounded, but not so severely as to necessitate his withdrawal from active duty. 
In 1865 he was commissioned major of the First Minnesota Heavy Artillery, and mustered 
into service at Chattanooga, Tennessee. Remained on military duty until September of the 
same year, when he was mustered out of service at Nashville, Tennessee, and returned with 
the regiment to Minnesota, and was finally discharged at Fort Snelling about the first of 
October. In concluding this brief outline of the war record of the subject of this sketch, it 
may be remarked that his patriotic military services justly challenge, not only the admiration 
of his fellow-citizens, but also the nation's gratitude. 

Upon his retirement from the army at the close of the war. Major Heffelfinger entered 
energetically upon a business career. In 1866, in connection with John S. Walker, he 
engaged in the boot, shoe, and leather business. In 1873 the North Star Boot and Shoe Com- 
pany^was organized, with C. B. Heffelfinger as manager; and in 1875 A. M. Reid was elected 
president, and C. B. Heffelfinger treasurer and business manager. This corporation, under 
the name of the North Star Boot and Shoe Company, is doing an extensive business over 
Minnesota, Dakota, Montana, northern Iowa, and Nebraska, and in western Wisconsin. The 
usual number of employes in the entire establishment, comprising clerks, salesmen, travel- 
ling men, and shop hands, a\erages from one hundred to one hundred and fifty. The rapid 
increase of business from 1873 to 1887 has compelled the company from time to tmie to 
seek more commodious accommodations for its operations. At present its manufacturing 



i 



,3:: NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

and business establishment is located on Third Street, in the central part of the tily of 
Minneapolis. 

In 1863, C. B. Ileffelfinger was united in marriage at Shippensburg, Peniis\l\ania, to 
Mary Ellen, daughter of John and Esther Tolton, of Dillsburg, York Count)-, Pennsylvania. 

Major Ileffelfinger has been a worthy nieni!)cr of tlie Cumberland Lodge No. 90 of Odd 
Fellows, from 1856 to 1866, at Sliippensburg, Pennsylvania. He is also a member of the 
Grand Army of the Republic, and tlie Loyal Legion of tlic State of Minnesota. 

In political sentiment he is a Republican, and has been a member of that part)- since its 
organization. Prior to liiat [icriod he was itlcntitied with the old W'liig part)-. Major Ileffel- 
finger was a worth)- member of the city council from 1867 to 1870, the duties of which were 
discharged with an aim to the public good, and to the entire satisfaction of those who 
invested him with power. 

Major Heffelfingei', with all his vast experience, is possessed of the higlicr powers, of the 
deep sense of religious obligations, and the lofty influences of honor and integrity. Edu- 
cated in the Presbyterian faith, his devotion to tiie cause of religion is an example of liberal 
and cheerful faithfulness worthy to be followed. He is eminently a social man, taking great 
pleasure in cver)-thing that renders a home liappy and delightful. His temperate life and 
high principles, his fine health and strong con\ictiuns, his knowledge of the prejudices and 
wants of men, made him a great power against the Rebellion as well as in the army — a 
sleepless, untiring, and unmurmuring patriot. 



WILLIAM W. McNAlR. 

AMONG the young men whom a spirit of enterprise brought to Minnesota in territorial 
times, and whose energy, enterprise, and intelligence contributed in marked degree to 
the rapid growth and development of that State, few accomplished as much of practical 
value to the commonwealth as William W. McNair. Though quiet and unobtrusive in 
demeanor, and shrinking from rather than seeking notoriety, he saw clearly the possibilities 
and future of the State, and especially of the city of Minneapolis, where he dwelt ; and by 
his foresight, energy, and material aid helped to initiate, and urge on to consummation and 
completion, most of the enterprises of business or public character, which, with its natural 
advantages, have brought to that city its growth and prosperity, almost without parallel in 
this country or elsewhere. 

William Woodbridge McNair was born at Groveland, Livingston County, New York, 
on the fourth day of January, 1836, and was the eldest son of William Wilson McNair, 
whose family, of Scotch-Irish descent, removed from eastern Pennsylvania betore the begin- 
ning of the present century. His mother, Sarah Pierrepont, was of English lineage, a 
descendant of Rev. James Pierrepont, one of the founders of Yale College ; a family which 
traced its ancestry in a direct line from Robert de Pierrepont, who came over from Normandy 
w-ith William the Conqueror. 




^^€^^^v_ 



W/r.IJAIir W. McNAIR. 133 

From each of his parents he inherited strong and decided traits of character, and even 
ill childhood gave evidence of marked intellectual ability. His education was obtained in 
the academics at Genesee and Canandaigua. But his well-directed reading brought more of 
general knowledge and information tlian is usually attained with much greate reducational 
advantages. The ardent piety of his parents left an impress upon his character which never 
was effaced, and exercised an ennobling influence on his life. In early youth he united with 
the Presbyterian Church, to which his parents adhered, and he continued through life an ear- 
nest, conscientious member of that church, squaring his conduct with his profession while 
avoiding all ostentation of religion as he avoided ostentation and pretence of every kind. 

In 1855, somewhat against the wishes and advice of his father, who regarded him as 
still too young to make his way in the woikl, he came to Wisconsin and entered as a law 
student the office of Hon. James R. Doolittle and Hon. John W. Cary at Racine, studying 
hard and making rapid progress. But, without waiting for admission to the bar, the report 
of prospects farther West induced him to come to Minneapolis early in 1S57. He was im- 
pi'essed with the natural advantages of the place, with its immense water [)ower, at the head 
of navigation of the Mississippi, and foresa\v that the village of a few hundred inhabitants, 
on the verge of civilization, must become in brief time one of the great business centres of 
the country. Here he made his home and resumed the study of the law. He also at this 
time pre-empted and became the owner of one hundred and si.xty acres of land in the neigh- 
boring county of Carver. During the same year he was admitted to the bar, and soon made 
his way to the front rank of his profession. In 1859 he formed a law partnership with 
H. D. Beman, which continued until 1861. Then he formed a partnership with Eugene M. 
Wilson, which lasted until the election of Mi". Wilson to Congress in 1868. Then followed a 
partnership with William Lochren, in which John B. Gillillan became, in 1871, a member, and 
which continued until Mr. Lochren became a juilge of the district court, in 1S81. The firm 
of McNair & Gilfillan continued in business until 1S84, when, upon the election of Mr. 
Gilfillan to Congress, Mr. McNair finally withdrew from the practice of the law. 

In the trial of causes before juries Mr. McNair was for many years matchless at the bar of 
Hennepin County. He was well versed in the principles of jurisprudence, and his genial, 
companionable qualities, united with his character for strict integrity, insured him the con- 
fidence and good will of juries. His tact and skill in the examination of witnesses, espe- 
cially in the cross-examination of hostile witnesses, was unequalled, and he was a most power- 
ful and convincing advocate, always supporting his solid arguments with apt and pleasing 
illustrations, and rising at times to fervid eloquence. His memory was remarkable ; what- 
ever he had ever known or heard respecting a part}-, witness, or juror was present in his 
mind ; and, while he never took written note of testimony, he could in his argument give the 
testimony of any witness not only in the exact words, but with such imitation of voice and 
manner as to recall and fix it in the minds of the jury and silence any cavil as to the correct- 
ness of his statement of the testimony. For many years the firms of which he was a mem- 
ber had a very large practice, extending to almost all the important cases in the district 
court of Hennepin County, and Mr. McNair was constantly engaged before juries in term 
time, working beyond the capacity of most men and with notable success. 

Though he never sought public oflice, he took an intelligent, earnest interest in public 



134 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

affairs and followed his own convictions of right and expediency regardless of the popular 
current of thought. He was in accord with the Democratic party, and soon became and 
continued to be one of its most honored and influential leaders in the State. In 1876 he 
was prevailed upon to accept its nomination for Congress, the Republican majority in the 
district being so great as to preclude hope of success. Although his pcr.sonal popularity 
carried him several thousand votes in advance of his ticket, he was not elected. In 1883 he 
was the unanimous choice of his party as its candidate for governor, and was nominated for 
that office, notwithstanding his previous assurance to many that his health would not permit 
him to accept the nomination, and he fell foi that reason compelled to decline that honor. His 
previous services as county attorney of Hennepin County, mayor of the citv of St. Anthony 
before its union with Minneapolis, member of the Board of Education, and of other boards con- 
nected with the municipal government, though important, had little connection with politics. 

But it was his influence and energy in the promotion, construction, and establishment 
of railroads and other enterprises tending to the growth and prosperity of .Minneapolis that 
produced the most permanent beneficial results to liiat place. The first railroads in the 
State built upon land grants were all projected and controlled by citizens of the rival city of 
St. Paul, then the larger town, having the entire jobbing trade of the region to the north- 
west, and all railroads were made to centre in St. Paul, apparently, so far as could be done, 
avoiding all direct communication with Minneapolis. The great water jjower of the latter 
place was but little improved, facilities for transportation being inadequate and rales too high 
to admit of successful competition with other manufacturing localities. 

Mr. McNair was the first to perceive and urge the need of providing greater transporta- 
tion facilities; and he, in concert with other influential and equally enterprising citizens of 
Minneapolis, projected and constructed the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railroad, and obtained 
direct connection with the Lake-Superior & Mississippi Railroad and Nortlierii Pacific 
Railroad. This gave an impetus to manufacturing, which in turn produced such increase 
of freight as soon attracted to the city every railroad of any importance in the State, lower- 
ing rates and increasing manufacturing, by the side of which a large jobbing trade came into 
existence, and business of every kind has flourished, and population and wealth increased 
beyond precedent. Mr. McNair was also one of the projectors and active promoters of the 
Minneapolis Gaslight Company, the Minneapolis Street Railway Comjiany, and indeed of 
every enterprise tending to the material growth of the city. And all his enterprises were 
practical and successful, and brought wealth to himself as well as to the community. 

He was married August 21, 1862, in Virginia, to Louise, daughter of Hon. F,dgar C. 
Wilson, formerly member of Congress from that State, and father of Eugene M. Wilson, 
then Mr. McNair's law partner. His marriage was a most felicitous and happy one, and 
from all the toils and cares of his active, busy life, he could turn to the perfect enjoyment of 
his home, and the fond love he bore to his wife and children. Mrs. McNair and their only 
children, Agnes O. and Louise P. McNair, still reside together in his elegant mansion. 

Mr. McNair, as before stated, was sincerely religious, but without a trace of intolerance 
or austerity. He gave liberally to the support and furtherance of religion, and did not con- 
fine his benefactions to his own church or denomination. He also bestowed much for 
charitable uses, but sedulously avoided parade of gifts whenever that was possible. 








-^^^>t^^€c 




RICHARD JUNIUS MENDENHALL. 135 

Socially he was one of the most agreeable of men ; affable, genial, generous, kind- 
hearted, and iinflincliingly true to his friends, he had the characteristics whicli attract and 
bind men to their possessor, and no man in the community was more generally or more highly 
esteemed. Whatever of work or enterprise engaged his attention was rarried on with little 
regard for his personal strength or power of endurance, and his naturally vigorous constitu- 
tion at length gave way. He died at his home, September 15, 1885. 



RICHARD JUNIUS MENDENHALL. 

THERE is a tradition in the Mendenhall family that they are descended from a Russian 
nobleman of one of the ancient races in that great northern empire. At a later date 
they appear in Suffolk County, England, under the name of the De Mildenhalls. Their 
American ancestor was John Mendenhall, a Quaker gentleman, who migrated to Pennsylvania 
with William Penn. From this pioneer the line of descent passes down through his son 
Aaron, his son James, and his son George, to his son Richard. The last-named was married 
according to the Quaker custom to Mary Pegg, a descendant of an old Welsh family which 
settled in Maryland at an early date. Richard Mendenhall was a tanner, and carried on an 
extensive business at Jamestown, North Carolina. 

The subject of our sketch was born at Jamestown, North Carolina, on Thursday, Novem- 
ber 25, 1828. In tlie natural course of events he attended the local schools in the village, 
and then at the age of nine devoted a year to study at the Quaker boarding-school then 
recently started at New Garden. After this pleasant experience he returned to Jamestown 
and attended the village and neighborhood schools for a few months in each year, varying 
these scholastic labors by working in his father's tan-yard and garden or on the farm. He 
was not deeply concentrated on any one of these things, but became accjuainted with the 
details of them all and understood the proper management of horses, cattle, sheep, and 
swine, and the workings of the tanning business. He also accjuired much skill in gardening, 
in which occupation he often had the help of his mother (sometimes with an apple-tree 
sprout) and his sisters, who took a delight in beautiful flowers and fine vegetables. In this 
bright North-Carolina garden were laid the foundations of his present success as the greatest 
florist of the Northwest. 

When about fourteen years of age, young Mendenhall went to Greensboro, the county 
town, to live with Dr. I. J. M. Lindsey, who was the postmaster of the village, besides being 
a physician of distinction. The lad was assigned to the duties of opening and assorting the 
mails at all times of day and night, and the practical and methodical training thus gained has 
been of service to him ever since. Returning to his native village, he went to work in the 
variety store of his uncle, George C. Mendenhall. This gentleman was the owner of a hundred 
slaves, who had come to him as part of his first wife's property : while his brother Richard 
held to the strenuous doctrines of the Abolitionists, then just beginning to be felt in the 
nation. It happened that one of these bondsmen escaped from his tiiralJom, and was run off 



136 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

to the North on the underground railroad ; and James Ruffin Mendenhall, the only son and 
heir of George, determined to pursue the runaway and bring him back to the Old North 
State. He asked Junius to go with him in this quest, and also craved Richard to permit his 
son to undertake the journey. The sturdy Abolitionist gentleman ditl not desire that the 
slave should be caught, and he had little fear that he would be ; but, believing that Junius 
(although the younger of the two) might take some care of his fire-eating cousin, he con- 
sented to the plan. And so the lads started out, with two horses to their wagon, and one to 
ride in the saddle, and drove through Southwestern Virginia, past the famous Hawks' 
Nest, and on to the Kanawha River. As they were traversing one of the lonely Alleghany 
valleys in this picturesque mountain land, Junius was in the saddle at some distance ahead, 
when, looking back, he saw his cousin and the carriage plunged into a deep gorge by the 
collapse of a feeble and swaying bridge. As he viewed the falling timbers, with the deathly 
pale face of the diivcr, his mind was profoundly affected ; and when the wreck had been 
cleared away, and James and the wagon stood ready to go forward, he begged him to discon- 
tinue the journey and return to their far-away home. But the young slaveholder would not 
abandon his desiied prey so easily, and so they drove on to Charlestown, West \'irginia, where 
they took pas.sage on a river steamer, with their equipage. In due time they reached Cin- 
cinnati, and remained there for a week or more. Here young Mendenhall first saw a city 
and the complex wonders of city life. One of his first e.\periences was with a glass of beer, 
the first lie had ever drank, and the beverage had so bitter a taste, and was so different from 
his ideal expectations, tliat he remained satisfied with that one glass for more than twenty 
years thereafter. He also visited the play for the first time, and found it far from entertain- 
ing, so that he has never since been a regular patron of the theatre. 

But their African fugitive had gone farther afield than the Queen City, and so the two 
lads pressed on westward to Indiana, in a search which proved entirely useless. A news- 
paper in Richmond, Indiana, pleasantly remarked tliat "Tw-o green young Carolinians, one 
the son of a slave-holder, the other the son of a prominent Abolitionist, have come all the 
way from North Carolina to look up a runaway slave. The two young greenies are like 

" ' Little Bo-peep who lost her sheep, 

And where do you think they'll find them ? 

Why, let them alone 
And they [the boys] will go home, 
Wagging their tails behind them.'" 

After these wide wanderings into tlic land of freedom, Mendenhall was glad to get home 
to Jamestown, and to the pleasant old farm and tan-yard and his uncle's variety store. From 
1848 until December, 1850, he studied at the New-Garden boarding-school once more. Next, 
the youth departed into the remoter North, and entered the celebrated school of the Friends 
at Providence, I'ihodc Island. The summer season passed in re.-.t and recreation at the 
beautiful village of Centre Harbor, on Lake Winnepesaukee, and in rambling on foot through 
the Wiiite Mountains. His comrade in these happy journeys was Cyrus Beede, of Centre 
Sandwich, New Hampshire ; and the two youths spent many hours in conjuring up all man- 
ner of schemes for their future lives. There was another lad, James T. Dillingham, of West 



RICHARD JUNIUS MENDENHAI.L. 137 

Falmouth, Massachusetts, who remained in close intimacy with them, and the trio were 
almost inseparable. During the season Junius's elder brother and his wife came to Provi- 
dence, and took the youth on a journey through New England, visiting the island of Nan- 
tucket, where they made a prolonged visit to William IMitchell, the father of Maria Mitchell, 
the celebrated astronomer. Then they sojourned at Dillingham's home ; and at this time 
Mendenhall first met the lady who afterwards became his wife, and whose company he enjoyed 
very fully during the ensuing season, when he was teaching the school at North Falmouih. 

Mendenhall visited Jamaica, Long Island, to see Richard Fo.x, an Englishman who had 
formerly worked a copper mine near Jamestown, North Carolina. He was now engaged in 
railroad building in Ohio, and at once sent Mendenhall out to Steubenville and thence to 
Claysville, Pennsylvania, to take charge of the books, time, and supplies of a force of men 
engaged in building a long tunnel. After the season was over he visited Cleveland, and 
travelled thence by boat to Buffalo, taking a view of Niagara Falls, and then sojourning sev- 
eral days at Rochester with Silas Cornell. Thence he continued his wanderings to Oswego, 
whence he went to Syracuse to attend a meeting of the " Jerre " rescuers. Another voyage 
from Oswego led him to Ogdensburg, whence he crossed Vermont and went down to Boston, 
reaching that city on the day when Daniel Webster died. On another occasion he visited 
Louis Kossuth in Boston. After a sojourn at West Falmouth, young Mendenhall returned 
to his native State and went to work with his brother Nereus, engineering on the North 
Carolina Railroad. That is to say, he made the pegs and drove them down where and as 
deep as his brother ordered. In September, 1854, he and his sister Judith conveyed a 
deranged woman to a Baltimore asylum, and then prolonged their journey to New York, 
Boston, and Lynn, bringing up at West Falmouth, where they visited for ten days at the 
home of Miss Swift. The two Carolinians journeyed thence into Maine, afterwards passing 
onward to Montreal, Kingston, Niagara, Rochester, and New York. At the latter city Miss 
Swift met them, and went with them to North Carolina, where she dwelt for several weeks. 
At the time of her return, there being no railway between Jamestown and Raleigh, Men- 
denhall drove with her over the road, a distance of one hundred miles. At West Falmouth, 
Mendenhall found Beede and Dillingham, then in partnership, manufacturing oil-cloths. 
Mendenhall had no money and of course could not join them ; but they wanted him, and so, 
to have him connected with the business, a store was rented in New York and he was put 
in charge of it. Here he remained through the winter ; but did not find the measuring 
and selling of oil-cloth a congenial occupation. One day he met on Cortlandt Street a man 
carrying a pair of prodigious long-legged boots. He asked him if he was a civil engineer, 
and, receiving an affirmative answer, avowed that he wanted work in that line, for which he 
was fitted by service in North Carolina. A few days later he dined with this gentleman 
(who proved to be Major Serrell), and was informed that if he would go out to Muscatine, 
Iowa, he could there get work from John Houston, the Scottish engineer. As soon as 
his West-Falmouth friends could send a substitute to take his place in their store, he 
started, and after a pause at Buffalo, caused by a hemorrhage, he reached Muscatine and 
gave Major Serrell's letter to Mr. Houston. But he said : " I can give you no place but 
the hind end of the chain"; and Mendenhall, reflecting that the forward man would have 
to pull the chain, accepted ; and soon afterwards the surveying party of fourteen men, with 



138 XORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

two horses, two dogs, and two guns, drove their first stakes on the bank of the Iowa River. 
At the end of the month the "hind-end" man received twenty-five dollars, and was promoted 
by Major Scrrell to the headship of the party, subject only to the orders of Mr. Houston. 

Mendenhall left the party at Des Moines, where he passed the winter of 1855-56 in the 
office of Dewey & Tubby, civil engineers, surveyors, and land agents. In the spring- 
time of 1856, he took steamboat for St. Paul, whence he passed by stage to St. Anthony 
and so on to Minneapolis, where he had to get a wheelbarrow to mo\e his trunk. 

In this primitive manner, and after so many years of wide wanderings, Mr. Mendenhall 
entered the city of whose life for nearly a third of a century he has been an important part. 
It would be a work of supererogation to speak of the vast floricultural business that he built 
up in the subsequent years, during which his flowers were famous throughout Minnesota. 

Mr. Mendenhall married Miss Abby G. Swift, the daughter of Captain Silas Swift, of 
West Falmouth, Massachusetts, on the eleventh day of February, 1858, after the good order 
of the Society of Friends, having no minister, but repeating the marriage themselves 
separately in the presence of a large assembly. They remained with the bride's parents 
about two weeks, then went to North Carolina and remained with Mr. IMendenhall's mother 
(his father having died in the year 185 i), for two or three weeks, after which they went 
directly to Minneapolis, where thev have remained ever since and are at present. 

;\rr. Mendenhall carried on floriculture as a mere pastime and recreation, from his 
natural and innate love of flowers. But his chief business was banking: from 1857 until the 
fall of 1873, Mendenhall successfully carried on the banking business, alone part of the time ; 
and from 1863 to 1866 he was president of the old State Bank of Minnesota, afterwards 
merged into the State National Bank of Minneapolis, of which he was president until Jan- 
uary, 1 871. There was a savings-bank organized in connection with the national bank. 
In 1870 the two institutions separated, Mendenhall managing the savings department. 
During the panic of 1873 there was a run on the savings-bank, and it had to suspend, as 
the funds were largely invested in real-estate loans, upon which immediate cash 
could not be realized. Many of the depositors took notes, bonds, or mortgages, for the 
amounts due them ; others would not do this, but insisted on putting the institution into 
bankruptcy, which Mendenhall persistently fought ; and finally made compromise b}- turning 
over \o trustees property sufficient to secure the whole remainder of indebtedness. Never- 
theless, a few of the creditors were not satisfied, and did all that could be done to embarrass 
Mendenhall. He succeeded in getting things into such a position that he could somewhat 
control n>atters. But a few continued following relentlessly, and he finally took the benefit 
of the bankrupt act. In the meantime (for this trouble continued for ten years), he pressed 
bis floral business to an unprecedented and successful extent, and has continued from time 
to time to liquidate some of the old indebtedness ; and, in all probability, will settle up to 
the satisfaction of all. Some of the creditors voluntarily gave him receipts in full for a 
percentage of their claims, making the proposition themselves. 

In a ])rivatc conversation with \\r. Mendenhall, he said, " / /mvc not alivays done right, 
often dune ihiiigs that I wish I had not done, said things I wish I had never said; but amid 
it all f have never had it in my heart to defraud anvhody ; and have only aimed to do the best 
I could for myself and all concerned, and here I let the matter rest." 




^.'4, 4. 



W^.^!^*^ 



HAN FORD LENNOX GORDON. 139 



HANFORD LENNOX GORDON. 

HANFORD LENNOX GORDON was born in Andover, Alleghany County, New York, 
December 30, 1836. His father was William Brewer Gordon, and his mother's maiden 
name was Louisa Parsons. William Brewer Gordon was of pure Scotch descent. He was 
born in Massachusetts in 1798, and died, a resident of Corinna, Wright County, Minnesota, 
in 1876. The great-grandfather of Hanford Lennox Gordon, on his father's side, was Wil- 
liam Douglas Gordon, of Aberdeen, Scotland. He was a nephew of Alexander Gordon, the 
" Sandy Gordon " of Sir Walter Scott's "Antiquary ; " and Catherine Gordon, Lord Byron's 
mother, was his niece. 

The Gordons and Douglases intermarried of old, and the blood of the two families has 
been intermingled for several centuries. William Douglas Gordon was related by descent to 
Gawain Douglas, and his father Archibald, Earl of Angus. 

Just before the Revolution of 1776, William Douglas Gordon, with his brothers John 
and George, emigrated to South Carolina. How long he remained there is not known. He 
fouo-ht on the side of the colonies during the war, and he and his son, William Angus 
Gordon (a drummer-boy), were both present at the surrender of the British General Burgoyne, 
at Saratoga, in October, 1777. 

At the close of the Revolution he settled near Great Barrington, Massachusetts. His 
son, William Angus Gordon, grandfather of Hanford Lennox Gordon, married Catherine 
Lennox Douglas, a native of Aberdeen, Scotland, and settled about the year 1800 at L^na- 
dilla, on the Susquehanna River, in Delaware County, New York. He owned a fine farm 
there, and also a tavern. He died at Unadilla, in 1S28. His widow, Catherine, who was a 
typical "Black Douglas," survived him for many years. 

The pure-blood Gordons were all of a light or sandy complexion, with blue or gray eyes, 
curly hair, and a Grecian cast of features. The Douglases were swarthy, with black hair, 
dark eves, and Roman features. \\\ the family and ancestors of Hanford Lennox Gordon, as 
far back as his knowledge extends, the Douglas and Gordon types have been remarkably 
distinct and unmixed in the several members of the same family. His grandfather, William 
An"-us Gordon, was a pure Douglas. So were his son Samuel and his daughter ILarriet 
(who married the late Dr. Hatch, of Aurora, Portage County, Ohio, and is still living at 
Aurora). William B. Gordon, father of H. L. Gordon, was of the pure Gordon type, with 
light hair, blue eyes, and slightly sandy beard. His son, Charles M. Gordon (now residing 
at Clearwater Lake, Wright County, Minnesota), and his daughter Harriet, who died many 
years ago, were of the pure Douglas type. His sons Henry and Edward, and his daughter 
Louisa took after their mother largely, while his daughter Maria was of the pure Gordon type, 
and Hanford Lennox Gordon, his seventh and last child, is a mixture of the two types — 
Gordon and Douglas — and the only complete blending of the two types known in the family 
as far back as tlie memory of man runneth. 

When Hanford Lennox was about four years old, his father moved from Andover to 



140 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

Wellsvillc, on the Genesee River, where he built a dam across the stream and erected the 
first sawmill at that point. He had followed the business of a lumberman from early man- 
hood ; first on the Susquehanna, and later at Andover and Wellsville, for a brief time on the 
Honeoye Creek, in Potter County, Pennsylvania ; and from 1852 to 1857, in connection 
with his oldest son Henry, on Wolf Creek, in Jefferson County, Pennsyhania. 

In those early days, before the completion of the Erie Railroad, Wellsville was a mere 
hamlet in the midst of a wilderness. Hanford Lennox Gordon's education was limited to 
the common school and to one term in a private school kept by one " Professor" Smith, and 
called a high school. He was, however, a diligent scholar, and pursued his studies in connec- 
tion with the law for many years after he left school. I-'rom early infancy he was remark- 
able for two apparently opposite qualities — tenderness and stubbornness. He was always 
as tender-hearted and sympathetic as a girl. He could be coa.xed easily by anybody he liked 
to do almost anything, however disagreeable to himself. But to force or compel him to do 
anything against his will, without overmastering force, was utterly impossible. His mother 
never whipped him. She knew his moods too well. His father never attempted it but once 
(when he was about eight years old), and the boy's stubbornness and adroitness prevailed 
over the father, and the little fellow remained master of the situation. Once at school the 
teacher, a Mr. Browning, called him up to di\-ulge something against his scb.ool-fcllow, " Hi " 
Coats, who had been playing a prank on Hanford in school. He was then twelve years old. 
He positively declinetl to " tell on " Hi Coats, ami the master sent out for a "water-beech " whip 
as big as a man's thumb at the butt, and five feet long. The presence of the whij) tiid not 
produce the desired result, and young Gordon was detained when school was dismissed. 
The boy still declined to divulge, and refused, when ordered to take off his coat and vest. 
Browning was a tall, strong man, and easily overpowered the boy and stripped his coat and 
vest off. Meantime, the master lost his temper, and flogged the boy unmercifully. The 
little fellow stood erect, mute, and motionless, without a whimper, and had his shirt cut into 
ribbons, and his back welted and lacerated by that " water-beech," laid on with all the might of 
the master. After whipping him till the blood was trickling down on the floor, the irate 
master inquired if he was ready to divulge. 

" I zvill die first ! " was the stubborn reply; and the master laid on again, until he was 
frightened at the results, and let the bo\' go, without extorting so much as a whimper from 
him. When Hanford came out he found the big boys waiting for him. One of his school- 
fellows who was present told the writer of this sketch that when young Gordon came out 
with his coat and vest on his arm, and his back all blood, he was pale, but his face was like 
stone. As the teacher passed them, young Gordon said to him in a hu.sky voice : " If I live 
to be a man I'll whip you." He kept his word. When he was twenty years old, he met 
Browning on the street in Wellsville, walked up pleasantly, shook hands with Browning, and 
then said, " Mr. Browning, you may have forgotten it, but I promised once to whip you if I 
lived to be a man. I have no ill-feeling against you now, but I will keep my word," and he 
knocked Browning down on the instant. Bystanders interfered, and that was the end of it. 

Many instances might be related showing his courage and stubborn tenacity of piupose 
at an early age. Let one more suffice. 

His father had taught him the art of swimming, and at an early age. When he was 



HANFORD LENNOX GORDON. 141 

seventeen, his cousin, David Parsons, his nephew, and himself, went in swimming in a deep, 
broad cove. " Dave " Parsons was man-grown and weighed one hundred and seventy-six pounds. 
Young Gordon was slender, but very wiry and "quick as a cat." While they were swim- 
ming about. Parsons took water and strangled, and lost his wits. He began to beat the water 
frantically, and soon went down. As he came to the surface again Ilanford caught him by 
the hair. Instantly the drowning man grappled him, and they sank to the bottom together. 
Gordon has often said that that was the hardest struggle of his life — to break the hold of a 
powerful, frantic, drowning man. Young Gordon fully realized his danger, but he was not 
frightened. He held his breath till it seemed to him that his head was bursting. To take 
in water was almost certain death. Finally, by getting his back on the gravelly bottom, and 
drawing his knees up against the chest of the drowning man, he broke his hold and escaped 
to the surface. Blood was trickling from his mouth and nostrils. He took breath, and called 
to his nephew, who had gone to the shore, to get an edging, come to his assistance, antl wait till 
he came again to the surface. Down he went again after the drowning man. There was no 
struggle this time, as Dave lay almost stone-dead on the bottom. Young Gordon brought 
him to the surface, and, with the help of Billy and the edging, got him on shore antl saved 
his life. The effort, however, nearly killed the lad. He spat blood for a long time after, and 
his left lung has troubled him ever since. 

Young Gordon began the study of law at sixteen, at the same time pursuing the study 
of Latin, French, Spanish, German, general history, oratory, and English literature. He 
began the study of law at home, borrowing elementary law-books from Charles Collins, a 
local lawyer. Collins was a fine Latin and French scholar, and i^ead German. He took a 
liking to young Gordon, and aided him materially in his studies. Almost every night for a 
year, Gordon read Latin, French, and German, under his supervision. For this Collins 
received and desired no recompense, except the pleasure of aiding a deserving boy in obtain- 
ing an education, and the opportunity it gave him to brush up his own knowledge of those 
languages. 

Gordon's mother died at Wellsville, in December, 1854. Shortly after he conceived 
an ambition to enter the military school at West Point. Martin Grover, late one of 
the judges of the Court of Appeals of New York, was then politically powerful in Alle- 
gany and surrounding counties, and had taken a fancy to young Gordon. Mr. Grover told 
him that lie could and would procure the appointment for him. But Gordon's father was 
utterly opposed to it for several reasons : first, he disliked the military profession as such. 
Second, he said his son Hanford was not physically strong enough to endure the hardships 
of a soldier's life. In this he was probably right, as the life of an officer on the frontier was 
no sinecure in those days. Third, he wanted his son to go and take charge of the books, 
and eventually manage the business at the new lumbering establishment in Jefferson 
County, Pennsylvania. Young Gordon was too proud to beg his father for anything, and 
he would not take the appointment without means to enter the academy on an equal footing 
with other cadets. The result was, that, in a fit of anger, he sat down and wrote two letters 
— one to Mr. Grover, thanking him, but telling him that he had reconsidered the matter, 
and concluded that he did not want the appointment. The other letter was to his uncle, 
Samuel Gordon, a prominent lawyer of Delhi, New York, asking permission to go and study 



I 



142 



NOR THIVES T BIOGRAPII I " 



law in his office. The uncle's reply was all that could have been desired ; and, in a few 
days, young Gordon quietly slipped away, without informing anybody but his sister Louisa 
(then Mrs. Phillips) of his destination or project. This was in the spring of 1855. 

From early boyhooti his mother had taught him economy, and to save his pennies. 
She pro\idod him with a tin bank. Tiiat bank had never been opened till young Gordon 
resolved to start for Delhi. He then "broke the bank," and found that he owned $61 50 
in American silver coin. He was independent, he felt, and he acted accordingl)-. He was 
kindly received by his uncle, and he "fell to" the books in the ample library in earnest. 

The law-firm was Gordon & Hughston. The latter was then a member of Congress. 
Tlie firm allowed young Gordon two dollars a week for cop)'ing papers, etc., with which he 
paid his board. He found, however, other necessary expenses. His cousins were better 
clad than he, and he felt ashamed of his scanty wardrobe, and improved it to the detriment 
of his Hiiiiled cash. Several limes his uncle inquired if he did not need a lillle money, but 
the proud young student answered that he wanted nothing but what he earned, and was not 
in need. However, as winter approaclied he saw that his scanty means were nearly ex- 
hausted and that the crisis had arrived. He had barely enough left to pay his fare back to 
Wellsvillc. He told his uncle that he was going home on a visit. He was too proud to 
seek employment at Wellsville, although he had plenty of warm friends there wiio would 
have been glad to give him a helping hand. He borrowed ten dollars of his sister 
Louisa, and started on foot for Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, and walked the entire dis- 
tance, one hundred and twenty-five miles. It was not to ask his father for money, but to 
seek employment among strangers. He taught a district school that winter (i 85 5-56) in 
Beechwoods Township, Jefferson County, at twenty dollars per month, boarding around 
anion"' the farmers. In the early spring he hired out as a raftsman at a dollar a day and 
boartl, and went to Pittsburgh as a common hand on a raft. At Pittsburgh he was paid off, 
including a dollar a day and necessary expenses to return to the starting-point. He, how- 
ever, hired again on a fleet (several smaller rafts coupled into a large one) bound for Cincin- 
nati, and handled an oar all the way down. Thence he returned to Wellsville, repaid his 
sister's loan, and left for his uncle's office in Delhi. During his absence from the office he 
had diligently pursued his law studies, borrowing books for that purpose. He bought copies 
of "Greenleaf on Evidence," and "Story's Equity," and took them with him on the rafts to 
Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, reading them carefully through at odd hours and evenings on the 
way. He remained a close student at Delhi until the spring of 1857. Meantime he had 
not asked his father for a cent and had received no aid from him. His father was doubtless 
waiting for his son to ask for money. 

Gordon took the stump with his uncle for John C. Fremont, in the i)residential cam- 
paign of 1S56, and made many telling speeches in Delaware, Broome, Chenango, Otsego, 
Schoharie, Greene, Ulster, and Sullivan Counties. His first political speech was delivered at 
a public meeting in Wellsville in 1854, in opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. Local 
Democrats were divided on the question of the extension of slavery, and a Democratic meet- 
ing was called to discuss the matter. After several speeches had been made, pro and con, 
the house appearing to be pretty evenly divided, Gordon was called out. He had acquired 
some reputation as a good speaker and ready debater in the Lyceum or Debating Society 



HANFORD LENNOX GORDON. 143 

then in full blast in the village, and that is probably the reason he was called out. He 
proved to be thoroughly posted on the whole political, social, and economical history of 
African slavery in America, and made a speech of an hour in length, that carried the house 
by storm. At the close of his speech, strong anti-Kansas-Nebraska-Bill resolutions were 
almost unanimously adopted. 

In January, 1857, Gordon received through Jonas A. Hughston, M.C. (his uncle's part- 
ner) an appointment to the Annapolis Naval Academy. This appointment was entirely un- 
sought b\' him, and he declined it. He felt that he was then too old to enter as a midship- 
man, and he had made such progress in his legal studies, and developed such power as a 
speaker, that he felt it was best for him to follow the legal profession. In the spring of i857( 
his father, who was in bad health and about to retire from business, wrote for him to come 
down to Jefferson County and see him. His letter was urgent, and young Gordon complied 
with the paternal request. He found his father very despondent. He closed out his inter- 
est in the lumber-mill, pine-lands, etc., to his son Henry, his partner, and proposed to divide 
the bulk of his property among his children. He was firmly impressed with the belief that 
he could live but a short time. Hanford did all he could to cheer him up, and advised him 
to retain in his own hands enough to make him comfortable. He at the same time urged 
him to give to his son Edward a certain farm which he owned, and to his son Charles certain 
other property, and to give to his three married daughters each a house and lot in Wellsville ; 
which he was about doing, his son Hanford having drawn the necessary papers. The father 
then said to his youngest son, "Hanford, I want to give you the most. You take the timber- 
lot " (one hundred and ten acres of valuable pine timber), "and I will give you Henry's note 
for one thousand dollars besides." 

The spirited young son declined to i-eceive anything. He said he didn't come there for 
anything, he didn't want anything, and would not take a dollar's worth. At this the old 
gentleman was very much chagrined and shed tears. For several days the matter remained 
unsettled. Finally the father declared emphatically that unless his son Hanford accepted a 
part of his property he would not give a cent to any of the rest, and he tore up and burned 
up the papers. Finally, after repeated urging by his brothers, young Gordon consented to 
take the timber-lot, and the papers were rewritten, signed, sealed, and delivered. The fath- 
er's mind seemed to be relieved. He began to improve, and begged Hanford to take a trip 
with him to the West. They journeyed together, going by the way of Pittsburgh and Cincinnati 
to St. Louis. From there they ascended the Missouri as far as Fort Leavenworth, explored 
Kansas and Northern Missouri, returned to St. Louis, and took a steamboat for St. Paul. 
June 5, 1857, they landed in St. Paul, and on the seventh proceeded to St. Anthony's Falls. 
Here they remained several days. Gordon urged his father to invest in the then small vil- 
lage of Minneapolis, clearly foreseeing, as he said, that an important cit\- would stand there 
at no distant day. But the elder Gordon had rural inclinations, he had retired from business 
and wanted no more of it. He desired to find a spot where he could have a little farm by a 
lake in the wilderness, and fish and hunt to his heart's content. And so they proceeded 
up the river, landed from the steamer at Clearwater, and went into camp on the shore ot 
Clearwater Lake, nine miles distant. The father was delighted with the country, where fish 
and game were abundant. It was indeed a lovely spot in the leafy month of June. But the 



144 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

son pined for his old companions and his books, and in July he bade his father farewell, and 
turned his face homeward. 

He was admitted to the bar at Ithaca, in October, 1857, and opened a law office at Scio, 
Allegany County, New "\'ork. Scio then aspired to become a half-shire town with Angelica 
the county seat. Phillipsville, now Belmont, finally won the prize. The young lawyer had 
run in debt for a small law library. The financial crash of 1857 had come, and there was 
but little business and less pay. He had made a mistake and a serious one. He ought t.T 
have gone into partnership with his uncle, who offered him a fine (,pportunitv ; but he was 
bound to paddle his own canoe. Meantime he met his future wife, Miss Sylvia Smith, 
daughter of Henry Smith of Ceres. They were married on the twenty-second day of Feb- 
ruary, 1858, and began housekeeping in Scio. 

.Scio failed to win the half-shire prize, and in the fall of 1858 Gordon moved to Friendship, 
where his practice rapidly increased. He won his first important case against Marshall \S. 
Champlin, a prominent lawyer of Cuba, New York, afterwards attorney-general of the State. 
But times were hard and he was in debt. He sold his timber-lot for $1500. 

His wife bore him a daughter, Ada Byron, on the loth of February, 1859. In' Septem- 
ber, 1859, Gordon resolved to go West. After paying up his debts he had little left except 
what remained unpaid on the timber contract. 

He started West, resolved to settle at Jefferson or Boonville, Missouri, both of which he 
had visited in 1857. At Boonville he was attacked with chills and fever, the "shakes," as 
the Westerners call the disease. The " shakes" will wear out any man, and Gordon was soon 
disgusted, not only with the shakes, but with the coimtry where they seemed to be the regu- 
lar order of exercises. He returned to St. Louis late in October, and took a steamer for St. 
Paul, resolved to get rid of the shakes. He landed in St. Paul on the 3d of November, 1859, 
and proceeded to Clearwater Lake, where his father resided. His brother Charles had come 
out the previous year and settled there. Minnesota was then an almost unbroken wilderness 
of woods, waters, and prairies. Times were hard. There was no money in the country. 
Number one wheat brought but thirty-five cents per bushel at Clearwater, and all store pay 
at that. " Pluck is better than luck," said the young lawyer to himself. He bought eighty 
acres of land of his father on Clearwater Lake, and paid one hundred and sixty dollars for 
it. He bought a pair of Texas steers for eighty-five dollars and hay enough to winter them. 
His brother helped him put up a log stable and hew out a pair of bob-sleds. Then he went 
into a tamarack swamp, and with his own hands cut rails to fence fifteen acres of his land, 
and got out sills and other timbers for a frame house. Meantime he got a special act 
through the Legislature, organizing the town of Delhi, Wright County (now Corinna), and 
was elected chairman of the first board of supervisors of that town. He sent for his wife 
and baby, who were at her father's, and they came out in April, i860. By that time he had 
his house up and enclosed. His household goods were shipped to Pittsburgh, and thence by 
steamer to St. Paul. There was a patch of about two acres under cultivation on the land 
when he bought it, the rest was brush-land and timber. He broke with his steers and put 
into crop about ten acres in the spring of i860. He cultivated that crop (mostly corn and 
potatoes), with his own hands, and cleared, broke, and jnit into turnips, about two acres 
more. His idea was to start a farm, rent it out, and get some income while it was growing 
in value. 



HANFORD LENNOX GORDON. 145 

In October, i860, he bought a small house and lot at Clearwater, trading in his Texas 
steers in part payment, and gave back a mortgage for the remainder, two hundred dollars. 
The price was three hundred dollars. He moved to Clearwater that month, having rented 
his little farm ; and opened a law office at his house, having been admitted to the bar of 
Minnesota at the general term of the district court for Wright County in September. That 
same fall he was elected one of the board of county commissioners, and also court commis- 
sioner of Wright County. He made several speeches for Lincoln during the campaign of 
1S60; at Clearwater, Fair Haven, Monticello, Silver Creek, and St. Cloud. That winter he 
taught the district school at Clearwater at fifty dollars for the entire term of twelve weeks, 
reserving, however, each Saturday to himself. On Saturdays he tried justice-court cases, 
but there was little litigation and less money. His practice, however, increased rapidly, as 
he won every case he undertook. 

When Abraham Lincoln issued his first call for seventy-five thousand men for three 
months, Gordon in a public speech ridiculed it, declaring that a long and bloody war was 
before us, that the " irrepressible conflict " had reached a crisis, that slavery must perish 
forever on every foot of American soil, that the government needed half a million men for 
the war; and that the call for three-months men was boy's play. The First Minnesota 
Volunteers was rais-ed, organized, officered, and mustered in for three months' service, to 
garrison the frontier forts and relieve the regulars. Gordon declared that he would enlist to 
go South and fight the rebels at the first opportunity, but that he would not enlist for three 
months to garrison the frontier posts. The news came shortly after that the First Regi- 
ment was to be mustered in for three years or the war, and would undoubtedly be ordered to 
Washington. That very night Gordon got together ten men (including himself), and they 
started for Fort Snelling the next morning to get into the First Regiment. The ranks were 
full, but room was made for them by mustering out men. The regiment was soon afterward 
ordered to Washington, and did gallant work in the first Bull Run. In that battle Gordon 
was captured in the pine thicket where a part of the regiment was fighting. While being 
taken to the rear, he overpowered and captured his guard, a stalwart sergeant of the Second 
j\Iississippi Rifles, and ran him into our lines at the point of the bayonet. On the retreat 
that followed he was well-nigh used up with fatigue and hunger, having marched and fought 
from one o'clock in the morning of July 21, till noon the next day, without a mouthful of 
food, except a bottle of wine he got from a sutler's wagon and divided with a weary com- 
panion. 

Gordon was wounded at Edwards's Ferry. He contracted a severe cold on picket in 
November following, which came near proving fatal, and resulted in hemorrhage. It became 
apparent to his captain, Smith, and his personal friends, Colonel Miller, Dr. Hand, and 
others, that unless he got where he could receive better care and comfort, he would go into 
a rapid decline. They urged him to take his discharge and go North and recruit his health. 
Gordon was ambitious and did not want to leave the army. Meantime, he remained at head- 
quarters, assisting the quartermaster, and acting as clerk for the colonel. Lieutenant-Colonel 
Miller wrote to Gordon's wife and told her the condition her husband was in, and advised 
her to use her influence to have him return home. The letter alarmed her, and she imme- 
diately started for Washington and went to camp. Gordon finally, after much persuasion, 



146 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

consented to take his discharge; having received strong letters of recommendation from 
General Gorman, Colonel Dana, Lieutenant-Colonel Miller, Captain Smith, and others, 
directed to Gov. Alexander Ramsey. There had been no opportunity for promotion in the 
regiment up to that time, and Sergeant Gordon was strongly recommended for a commission 
as soon as his health should permit him to re-enter the service. He arrived home after a 
painful journey, barely able to stand on his feet. He was obliged to make the journey from 
La Crosse to St. Paul in a stage, two hundred miles. He spent more than a week on the 
road, being compelled by illness and exhaustion to stop over several times. As soon as he 
breathed the bracing atmosphere of Minnesota, he began to mend. He, however, exposed 
himself in February and March in raising men for the Second Minnesota Battery, in which 
he had been promised the senior first lieutenancy by Governor Ramsey ; and again brought 
on hemorrhage and night-sweats. In April and May, he was so low, that his physician. Dr. 
Wheelock of Clearwater, gave him up to die; but Gordon had too much "sand" for that. 
He declared that he would pull through. He began slowly to mend again, and was appointed 
postmaster at Clearwater before he was strong enough to discharge the duties. When the 
Indian war broke out in the fall of 1S62, his health had considerably improved, and Gover- 
nor Ramsey appointed him to take charge of and distribute arms and ammunition to the settlers 
on the frontier, and to organize minute-men for defence. Gordon was active in this work 
during the fall and winter. He also helped recruit men for the Eighth Minnesota, and would 
ha\-e been the major of that regiment had his health permitted him to re-enter the service. 
He was anxious to go, but his physicians forbade him, and he was compelled to give up his 
ambition in that direction. Mis health, however, mended steadily in the pure atmosphere of 
Minnesota, and in the spring of 1864 he felt strong enough to again resume his practice, 
lie had been elected county attorney of Wright County at the general election in the fall of 
1863. In May, 1864, he moved to Monticello, the county seat, and opened a law office. 

At the next term of the district court, he was engaged on one side of every case, and 
won every case he tried. His first important case was the State against Shippey, indicted 
for murder. Shippey was ably defended by Eugene Wilson of the Alinneapolis bar, but he 
was convicted and sentenced to be hanged. Gordon believed him guilty of manslaughter, 
but not of murder. He therefore used his best efforts to secure a commutation of his sen- 
tence, and succeeded. Gor-don's practice grew rapidly, and soon extended to half the coun- 
ties in the State. 

In 1865, he was appointed by his old lieutenant-colonel (then governor). Miller, major- 
general of the State militia. In 1866, he was elected State senator from his district, the 
counties of Wright, Meeker, McLeod, Kandiyohi, Monongalia, and Lincoln. Gordon had 
taken a very active part in the presidential campaign of 1864, and made many effective 
speeches in favor of Abraham Lincoln, and the uncomfjromising prosecution of the war. He 
was already the leader of the Republican party in Wright County, and was nominated for 
senator by acclamation in 1866. The district, however, was close. There was an indepen- 
dent Republican candidate in the field, and a strong Democratic nominee. The majority for 
the regular Republican ticket in that district that fall was about 3C0, but Gordon was elected 
by 1060 majority over both his competitors. He was also re-elected county attorney at the 
same time. He served two sessions of the Legislature, and was chairman of the judiciar\- 



HAXFORD LEXXOX GORDOX. 147 

committee during both sessions, a rare compliment for so young a lawyer, especially as there 
were many older and well-known lawyers in the Senate. In September, 1867, Gordon 
moved to St. Cloud. When the Republican convention of Wright County assembled that 
fall, Gordon wrote a letter to the convention saying that he had moved out of the senatorial 
district and would send in his resignation, and advised them to nominate his successor. The 
convention, however, unanimously passed a resolution requesting him to serve out his term, 
notwithstanding his change of residence, and he did so. 

He entered into partnership at St. Cloud with L. W. Collins, now one of the judges of 
the supreme court of Minnesota. The name of the firm was Gordon & Collins. They did 
a large business until Gordon went to the Pacific coast, in July, 1870. His health had again 
begun to give way, and he was threatened with recurrence of his lung troubles. His wife 
was also in declining health, and they concluded to try a change of air and scenery. 

They started for California on the 4th of July, 1870, and spent eight months in Califor- 
nia, Oregon, and Washington Territory, and then returned to St. Cloud. Gordon's health 
was greatly improved. His wife, however, received no benefit. .She v.-a3 predisposed to 
consumption, having inherited that fatal disease from her mother, who died of it at the same 
age at which Mrs. Gordon finally died. Soon after his return, Mr, Gordon was appointed by 
General Grant register of the United-States Land Office at St. Cloud. That land district 
then embraced more than half the State, including nearly all the pine lands. An im- 
mense business was transacted at the office, and the position of register was a very lucrative 
one. Gordon was practically both register and receiver, doing the duties of both, as T. C. 
McCIone, the receiver, was rarely at the office, having an immense private business. Gordon 
at the' same time ran his law business, which was large. He kept a clerk in the land office, 
and also in his law office, adjoining ; but lie was obliged to work more than si.\teen hours a 
dav, and it soon began to tell on him. In addition to that, his wife had become a confirnied 
invalid, and he spent many a sleepless night at her bedside after a hard day's work. In the 
spring of 1874 he found himself rapidly breaking down under his load, and he sent in his 
resignation. It was accepted, to take effect when his successor was appointed and qualified ; 
and he did not get relieved from the duties of the office till July. By that time his health 
had suffered to such an extent that he was compelled to give up his law practice entirely. 
He still looked after his private affairs, which had grown to considerable proportions. His 
health still declined, and in the spring of 1875 he suffered a severe hemorrhage, which 
nearly ended his life. He was sitting at his desk, writing, when he felt a sharp pain in his 
left lung, and very shortly his mouth filled with fresh blood. He got up, put on his over- 
coat, and walked down to his residence, spitting blood freely all the way. His wife was very 
ili, and he was afraid of alarming her. He sat down in the kitchen. His mouth filled with 
blood constantly. He found himself growing weak. The housekeeper was in his wife's 
room, and he thought best not to let her know ; so he walked back almost to his office and 
entered the office of Dr. McDonald. It was fortunate that Dr. McDonald was in. The 
doctor was alarmed. He took Gordon up in his arms, carried liini to his phaeton, and drove 
him rapidly home. He lifted him, and carried him into the house and laid him on a bed. 
For manv hours Dr. McDonald remained by his bedside before he could stop the hemor- 
rha"-e. His patient bled until he was almost as white as the sheet he lay on, and until he 



*, 



148 NORTHirEST BIOGRAPHY. 

was so weak that he could not raise his hand. "Nothing but pure grit," said Dr. 
McDonald, "carried him through; ninety-nine men out of a hundred in hi.s condition 
would have died." He regained strength slowly, and was confined to his room for several 
weeks. 

In September, 1875, while still barely able to get around and attend to some of his 
personal affairs, he had an encounter with a desperado at Monticello, that proved that he 
possessed "nerve" and "sand" in the highest degree. A saloon-keeper of that town owed 
Gordon a month's rent for a house. Gordon had refused to renew his lease, as the people 
of Monticello desired to get rid of him ; and the man moved out and refused to pay rent for '» 

the last month. Gordon walked into his saloon one day and asked him for it. He became 
angry and used abusive language. Gordon told him that he would sue him if he did not pay. * 

Thereupon the bully swore that if Gordon sued him he would " pound his head." Gordon 
immediately took out an attachment and sent a deputy sheriff with it to attach the propcrt\- 
in the saloon. The desperado took the deputy h\ the coat-collar and walked him out, lockcti 
the door, and left. The deputy, b)- Gordon's direction, got assistance, broke in the door, and 
made the levy. Gordon had been warned that the desperado threatened to shoot him, and he 
prepared himself with a thirty-two-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver. About nine o'clock 
the next morning", he went into the post-office, in a row of buildings nearly opposite the 
saloon. The bully was standing in front of his saloon and saw Gordon enter. He crossed 
the street and stood secreted near the front door of the office, waiting. As Gordon walked 
out, the bully stepped out, struck him a severe blow on the side of the head with his left 
hand, stepped back, and drew a revolver. The blow felled Cordon to the floor, but instantly 
he was on his feet, and, seeing the pistol in bhe hands of the desperado, drew his revolver. 
They both fired simultaneously. The man missed Gordon, but Gordon's bullet took effect. The 
bully turned instantly, and ran into an adjoining harness-shop and shut the door. Gordon 
was close at his heels, and endeavored to kick the door in. Failing in this, he sprang into 
the street in front of the door, about twenty feet distant, and waited for the bully to open 
the door. In a few seconds the desperado opened the door and peered out ; instantly he got 
a shot which cut his shoulder. He slammed the door shut, and then cautiously opened it, and 
pushed out his arm at full length, with the revolver in his hand, and nred. Gordon returned 
the fire, still maintaining his position. Several shots were exchanged between them. One 
of Gordon's shots cut the bully's coat-sleeve the whole length of his arm, wounding him 
slightly. By this time the by-standers had recovered from their astonishment, and one of 
them ran up and caught the desperado's arm. Not one of the man's bullets touched Gordon, 
but every one of Gordon's bullets hit his antagonist. He was shot through the stomach, in 
the shoulder, and in the arm and side. The wound through the stomach was serious, and 
well-nigh proved fatal. Gordon telegraphed to Dr. Hand of St. Paul to come up and attend 
to the wounded man, and then went before a justice of the peace and demanded an investiga- 
tion of the affair. Nobody would make a complaint against him at the time, and no investi- 
gation could be had without a complaint. Gordon asked a friend, as a favor, to make 
complaint, which was done, and a few days after an investigation was had. At this investi- 
gation, three brothers and several other Irish relatives of the wounded man appeared, and 
demanded that Gordon be put under bonds. The physicians had declared that the wounded 



i 



HANFORD LENNOX GORDON. 149 

man must die, and his friends were greatly excited. The investigation was being held before 
Justice Carpenter. The justice said he did not consider it necessary to put Gordon under 
bonds ; and the brothers of the wounded man declared that if he did not, Gordon should not 
leave that room alive. Gordon had asked for an adjournment till the next day, to enable him 
to go to his home in St. Cloiul and look after his sick wife. The justice granted his request, 
and the friends of the desperado gathered in an ominous manner between Gordon and the 
front door. They were armed, and had taken pains to exhibit their pistols. The justice 
whispered to Gordon and told him to go out the back door. Gordon spoke up in a clear, loud 
voice and said : " I don't propose to skulk. I am going out at the front door." So saying, 
he drew his hands from the pockets of his overcoat, and in eacli hand was a Remington 
repeater. He started for the bullies, and they instantly broke for the door and fled down the 
street. " That was the coolest, pluckiest thing I ever saw," .said a friend of Gordon's, after 
it was over. "Well," said Gordon, " it was well for them that they got out of my way. If 
they had lifted a hand I would have killed every man of them." The outcome was a com- 
plete vindication of Mr. Gordon. The desperado survived. He was afterwards tried and 
convicted, although Mr. Gordon did not appear against him at the trial, having left the State 
and gone to Philadelphia, to attend the Centennial Exposition. 

In June, 1876, Mr. Gordon again came near to death from hemorrhage. He was up on 
the Platte River, in Morrison County, Minnesota, examining certain pine lands he was about 
to purchase. He was in a debilitated physical condition and ought not to have attempted 
such an undertaking. He and an expert examiner camped out in the woods, and together 
carefully examined about one thousand acres, estimating the pine timber. The weather was 
very warm, and Mr. Gordon became overheated and exhausted. While a mile or more from 
camp, he began to bleed freely from the left lung. He lay down on the ground and sent 
his companion to camp for some salt. By lying perfectly still, and keeping salt in his mouth, 
he arrested the hemorrhage, and reached camp that night. After his return from the Cen- 
tennial in November, 1876, Mr. Gordon was again prostrated with hemorrhage; and, under 
the advice of his physicians, went to Florida to spend the winter. His wife was, at this 
time, too weak to accompany him. He had planned to take her with him, but found it im- 
possible. Early in March he was notified by telegraph that his wife could live but a short 
time, and, although hardly able to walk, he started for home immediately, arriving, however, 
too late to see her before she died. Her death greatly affected him. He fell into a gloomy 
mood, and his friends lost all hope of his recovery. During the summer, however, he began 
to mend. 

He moved to Minneapolis in the year 1877, and has resided there to the present time. 
Although infirm in health, he has taken an active part in business and public affairs since he 
became a resident of Minneapolis. 

It was during the worst of his illness, in 1875 and 1876, that he wrote " Pauline" (pub- 
lished by G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, in 1878). He wrote that poem, he has often said, 
to break awa)' from the thoughts of himself and his dying wife. He found in its composi- 
tion congenial occupation. Much of it was written while he was too ill to leave his room. 
Driven from his profession and active business by disease that threatened to prove speedily 
fatal, tortured too as he was by sympathy for his suffering wife, he sought relief in composing 



i 



,50 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

that touching and powerful poem. The " Legends " and several minor poems were written I 

later, after the death of his wife, and when his health had greatly improved. I 

In 1S74, when Mr. Gordon retired from the St. Cloud Land Ofifice, he publicly declared that * 

he would never again hold any public ofifice, elective or appointive, and he has repeatedly since \ 

declined to allow his name to be used for ofifice. He has at the same time continually taken \ 

an active part in politics for his personal friends and for the Republican party, of which he \ 

has been a lifelong, ardent, and unwavering supporter. " The Republican party," he says, .| 

"represents the best brains and the best hearts of the American people. It is the party of j 

human progress and the highest civilization. It carried us safely through the great war of J 

the Rebellion. It abolished slavery. It established the best financial .system the world has 
ever seen. It raised and maintained the public credit. It protected American industries 
and opened home markets for the tillers of the soil. It has made some mistakes ; no party 
ever made less." 

In December, 1878, Mr. Gordon married his second wife, Mary Louise Carpenter. By her 
he has had two children, Huntley Lennox Gordon, born September 5, 1882, and Mary Louise 
Gordon, born February 2, 1884. His daughter Ada, by his first wife, is the wife of Dr. A. 
H. Hedderly of Minneapolis. Mr. Gordon, by judicious investments, has accumulated con- 
siderable wealth. 

Gordon's " Legends of the Northwest " form a beautiful illustrated volume of nearly 
one hundred and fifty pages, published at St. Paul, in 1881. They include, "The Missis- 
sippi ; " " The Feast of the Virgins," a legend of the Dakotas ; " Winona ; " " The Legend 
of the Falls ; " " The Sea-Gull," the Ojibwa legend of the pictured rocks of Lake Superior ; 
and "Minnetonka." These noble traditions of the Northwestern aborigines are told in 
flowing and melodious verse, and " Winona " is a masterly example of the stately hexameter 
measures. His "odd hours" for many years have been devoted to literature. Among many 
minor poems, his "Gettysburg: Charge of the Fir.st Minnesota" deserves especial mention 
and quotation. It was written for the camp-fire of the G. A. R. Department of Minnesota 
National Encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic, at Minneapolis, June 22, 18S4. 

" Ready and ripe for the harvest lay the acres of golden grain 
Waving on hillock and hillside and bending along the plain. 
Ready and ripe for the harvest two veteran armies lay 
Waiting the signal of battle on the Gettysburg hills that day. 
Sharp rang the blast of the bugles calling the foe to the fray, 
And shrill from the enemy's cannon the demon shells shrieked as they flew; 
Crashed and rumbled and roared our batteries ranged on the hill, 
Rumbled and roared at the front the bellowing guns of the foe 
Swelling the chorus of hell ever louder and deadlier still, 
And shrill o'er the roar of the cannon rose the yell of the rebels below, 
As they charged on our Third Corps advanced and crushed in the lines at a blow. 
Leading his clamorous legions, flashing his sabre in air, 
Forward rode furious Longstreet charging on Round Top there — 
Key to our left and centre — key to the fate of the field — 
Leadin<r his wild-mad Southrons on to the lions' lair. 



HANFORD LENNOX GORDON. 151 

Red with the blood of our legions — red with the blood of our best, 

Waiting the fate of the battle the lurid sun stood in the west, 

Hid by the crest of the liills we lay at the right concealed, 

Prone on the earth that shuddered under us there as we Jay. 

Thunder of cheers on the left! — dashing down on his stalwart bay, 

Spurring his gallant charger till Iiis foaming flanks ran blood, 

Hancock, the star of our legions, rode down where our officers stood ; 

'■ By the left flauk, double quick, march!' — we sprang to our feet and away, 

Like a fierce pack of hunger-mad wolves that pant for the blood of the prey. 

' Halt !' — oil our battery's flank we stood like a hedge-row of steel — 

Bearing the banner of Freedom on the Gettysburg hills that day. 

Down at the marge of the valley our broken ranks stagger and reel. 
Grimy with dust and with powder, wearied and panting for breath, 
FUnging their arms in panic, flying the hail-storni of death. 
Rumble of volley on volley of the enemy hard on the rear, 
Yelling their wild, mad triumph, thundering cheer upon cheer, 
Dotting the slope with slaughter and sweeping the field with fear. 
Drowned is the blare of the bugle, lost is the bray of the drum, 
Yelling, deliant, victorious, column on column tliey come. 
Only a handful are we, thrown into the gap of our lines, 
Holding the perilous breach where the fate of the battle inclines, 
Only a handful are we — column on column they come. 

Roared like the voice of a lion brave Hancock fierce for the fray : 
' Hurry the reserve battalions ; bring every banner and gun : _. 
Charge on the enemy, Colvill, stay the advance of his lines ; 
Here — by the God of our Fathers ! — here shall the battle be won, 
Or we'll die for the banner of Freedom on the Gettysburg hills to-day.' 
Shrill rang the voice of our Colonel, the bravest and best of the brave : 
' Forward the First Minnesota ! For-ward and follow mi, tnen I ' 
Gallantly forward he strode, the bravest and best of the brave. 

Two hundred and fifty and two — all that were left of us then — 

Two hundred and fifty and two fearless, unfaltering men 

Dashed at a run for the enemy, sprang to the charge with a yell. 

On us their batteries thundered solid shot, grape-shot and shell ; 

Never a man of us faltered, but inany a comrade fell. 

' Fonuard the First Minnesota ." — like tigers we sprang at our foes, 

Grim gaps of death in our ranks, but ever the brave ranks close ; 

Down went our sergeant and colors — defiant our colors arose I 

^ Fire /' and we gave them a volley — grim gaps in the ranks of our foes I 

' Forward the First Minnesota /' our brave Colonel cried as he fell 
Gashed and shattered and mangled — ' Fonaard /' he cried as he fell. 
Over him mangled and bleeding frenzied we sprang to the fight. 
Over him mangled and bleeding we sprang to the jaws of hell. 



152 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

Flashed in our faces their rifles, roared on the left and the right, 
Swarming round us by thousands we fought them with desperate might. 
Five times our banner went down — five times our banner arose, 
Tattered and torn but defiant, and Happed in the face of our foes. 
Hold them 1 We. held them at bay as a bear holds the hounds on his track, 
Knee to knee, shoulder to shoulder, we met them and staggered tiiem back. 

Desperate, frenzied, bewildered, blindly they fired on their own ; 

Like reeds in the wiiirl of the cyclone, columns and colors went down. 

Banner of stars on the right ! Hurrah ! gallant Gibbon is come ! 

Thunder of guns on the left ! Hurrah ! 'tis our cannon that boom ! 

Solid shot, grape-shot and canister crash like the cracking of doom. 

Baffled, bewildered, and broken the ranks of the enemy yield; 

Panic-struck, routed, and shattered they fly from the fate of the field. 

Hold them ? We held them at bay as a bear holds the hounds on his track ; 

Knee to knee, shoulder to shoulder, we met them and staggered them back; 

Two hundred and fifty and two, we held their mad thousands at bay, 

Met them and baffled and broke them, turning the tide of the day; 

Two hundred and fifty and two when tlie sun hung low in heaven, 

But when the stars rode over we numbered but forty-seven : 

Dead on the field or wounded the rest of our regiment lay ; 

Never a man of us faltered or fiinched in tlie fire of the fray. 

For we bore the banner of Freedom on the Gettysburg hills that day. 

Tears for our fallen comrades, — cover tlieir graves with flowers. 
For they fought and fell like Spartans for tiiis glorious land of ours. 
They fell, but they fell victorious, for the rebel ranks were riven, 
And over our land united, — our nation from sea to sea. 
Over the grave of Treason, over millions of men made free. 
Triumphant the flag of our fathers waves in the winds of heaven. 
Tears for our fallen comrades — cover their graves with flowers, 
For they fought and fell like Spartans for this glorious land of ours; 
And oft siiall our children's ciiildren garland their graves and say : 
' They bore the banner of Freedom on the Gettysburg liills that day.' " 






E. H. PAGE. 153 



E. H. PAGE. 

EH. PAGE was born in Baltimore, Vermont, May 25, 1818; was ordained as a Baptist 
. minister, November, 1853 ; and died in Minneapolis, Minnesota, May 5, 1888, thus com- 
ing almost within sight of threescore and ten. For more than thirty-five years, or more than 
half of his entire life, with unwavering steadfastness of purpose and unabated earnestness, 
he proclaimed Christ and the Gospel to his fellow-men. Such a life and such a man merit 
grateful remembrance and hearty testimony to his worth. We rejoice to feel most pleasant 
assurance that, though dead, he yet speaks, and will continue to speak, in the hearts 
and characters of many who have been moved by his influence to purer purposes and 
nobler living. 

Mr. Page became a Christian in early life. He pursued his studies preparatory for col- 
lege in Ludlow, Vermont, and Meredith, New Hampshire. Having already gained a good 
name as a scholar and as a Christian, he entered Brown University, where he was knovv-n as 
a most faithful and exemplary student. His theological cour.se was taken at Union Theolog- 
ical Seminary, New York. One well acquainted with his work and character there writes, 
" Here he distinguished himself for thorough and accurate scliolarship, and as a sound, judi- 
cious theologian." At the termination of his theological course, he supplied for nearly a 
year a Baptist church in Chicago, in the absence of the pastor. Rev. Dr. Tucker. Here his 
able presentation of Gospel truth, his devotedness to the Master's work, his spiritual temper 
of mind and exemplary conduct gained profound esteem and confidence. For four years he 
was pastor of Bunker-Hill Baptist Church, Charlestown, Massachusetts. For nearly a year 
he supplied well and acceptably the Second Baptist Church, St. Louis, Missouri. For five 
years he was pastor of Greenwood Baptist Church, Brooklyn, New York. He had also pas- 
torates at Hudson, Massachusetts ; Milford ; Groton Junction ; Madison, Wisconsin ; and Ber- 
lin. During all these years he proved himself a worthy and faithful minister of Christ. In 
1886 he removed to Minneapolis, !\Iinnesota. Having now reached his sixty-eighth year, he 
did not accept another pastorate, but continued to preach very often as a supply. 

In now making a summary of the life and work of the Rev. Mr. Page, while we cannot 
speak of the achievements of a brilliant and sensational career, we can do what is better : we 
can record a steady, strong, healthy, invigorating influence, that went out from his whole life. 
Under his faithful ministry many became Christians ; Christians were lifted to a higher life ; 
and churches were more firmly established. In forming our estimate of a man we should 
look first at the controlling purpose of his life. Mr. Page did not live to produce sensation, 
or to gain the notice and admiration of the world. His aim was to serve Christ and humanity, 
by a clear and affectionate proclamation of the precious truths of the great plan of redemption. 
His aim was to be right and to do right. He lived not for notoriety, but for truth and duty. 
His intellect had keen, clear discernment, his ideas were comprehensive, his judgment sound. 
He was pure-minded, high-minded. His religious character was strong and stable. Having 
received truth unto his soul, he held it with strong, tenacious convictions. No considerations 



«54 



XOK TH II £S T BiCkiRA FH I ". 



vl policy, no desires for populau-ity, no allurements from the worU. could disturb bis equili- 
br , - _;risy. He was a man of kind, smooch 

d:i>..- _;.,., ..._..: >:. Const riined by the love o£ Christ. 

roote-I in Gospel truths, the desire of bis heart was to honor bis Lord, and to 

bring raen to tejoice i .ssings of re : •. He may have livetl coraparativelv 

unknown by the not-; ■ ,..; not uuknow. v.uven, where h"- " ■"- was written. His 

last hours were pec ciceful and happy with the precious c: -.s of a good hope 

of eternal life. He has ieit a name to be cherished in grateful memory, amd a Wessevl 

jjjj, -•. .,-,.,_ ,_ .-, ; -'i -' men. His merits and usefulness can only be cor- 

rev - -- . . ^e, who seeth not as men sect h. but discerns the 

secrets of the heart and the invisible workings of a noWe life. We ba\-e most joyful assu- 

- ' : ranks of that grand assembly to which 
. . --- inherit the kingdom prepared for you 

from the foundation of the world." 



F. B. HART. 



IX writing the " Biograpaical History of the Northwest," the editor r^rets that he has 
failed f '■- ' - ; — ;-- datat- ,' : -" "" ' "": ;'-.:-:hes of a few of the - ' - ' - 
who are p^ - k. Th< -- :>, no doubt, have p; - 

from complying with the oft-repeated solicitatioa to furnish suitable information for their 
bic, '. • - ■ , - ;:;\-e positions and 

Mr. Hart, although still in the early prime of life, is eminent in bis profession, and a 

lei . "^ ^jt. He ea- ? stereotyped 

ad".-.- .- ._..,„> .. .. ^ ;, .. ..^.^ man, who Co... ^,. ... ...^i ..-..._.:, in to ask his 

iaSuence for a clerkship in one of the departmentSv " Go to the Territories, sir, or to one 
of the new States. If you are a lawyer, hang oat your shingle and show that you are 

deserv--:: ■ -' ' •" :- '-•■■ a quarter section of ' ■- " '- " :•'- : •- : if a mechanic, open 

your s'.- : : .-n't stay here to bi. - . . mm or to mst with 

idleness. Do anything but serve as a slave in one of these wretrfied bureaus." Good 
aJ ' - - ""' - ^ ■•,,., ,.-^y_ y. •.-.-•■ .^jj ^^ -^ ':? in 

Be- - ;ssee for ' . -- . .-: was b': / :>.e 

Missouri River, — these pioneers had to meet not only a primitive people, but to traverse a 
primitive : ■■.■■ con^-e-" - • ' ' ' ' _ ' ' ' - ~ . ' •,- 

the pioneer ^ - .-:.. ^_-j: nrs ; an- .: . ^ . . . .. ..c: :,, ^ ;_:._: ;. . _^- :.-i .i:;r- 

prise or professional ambition. Perhaps the manifest depreciation of the lawyers of the old 
States is to be '. to the exodus of young men, of superior natural endowments, to 

tlie more attrao:. . .; ...s of the ■vast regions of the West. 

ytr Hart is only a fitting example of the success and pro^>erity that crowns tlw 





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LEWIS WILLIAM CAMPBELL. 155 

energetic career of Young America in the Northwest. Brains have not long to wait for 
employment in the progressive State of Minnesota and the adjacent Commonwealths. They 
are in constant demand, and always at a premium. Great and rapid as has been the growth 
of this section of our common country-, the Northwest is yet only in the infancy of develop- 
ment. The modern facilities for travelling bring to this field of enterprise much of the 
superior material of the older States ; and it needs no prophetic vision to perceive that the 
Northwest is destined to furnish hereafter some of the strongest minds in public affairs. 
IMen like Ramsey or Sibley of Minnesota, fortunate and honored as they are, will be 
succeeded by intellects as marked, and by success as biilliant, in the near future, by the 
young energetic business and professional class, of which the subject of this sketch is a 
leadins: member. 



LEWIS WILLIAM CAMPBELL. 

LEWIS WILLIAM CAMPBELL was born on Saturday, July 34, 1841, in the town of 
J Harrington, Washington County, Maine. His father, a man of exemplary piety, and 
an honored citizen, died April 9, 1847, leaving a widow and four children, Lewis, then nearly 
six years old, being the oldest'son. His lineage can be traced back to the Argyle branch 
of the great Campbell family in Scotland, who play so distinguished a part in history and 
romance. His paternal grandfather, James Campbell, who was the grandson of Alexander 
Campbell, born in Scotland, and Frances (Drummond) Campbell, born in Ireland, settled at 
Harrington, Maine, about the year 1780. As he was a judge of the Supreme Court many 
years, he was generally known as Judge Campbell. 

His great-grandfather. Col. Alexander Campbell, was born in Western Maine, in 1731 ; 
he was a prominent man during the exciting times of the Revolutionary War, and was often 
sent as an agent for the people to the General Court of Massachusetts or to the Continental 
Congress. His mother was the daughter of Daniel and Priscilla Allen Wakefield, both of 
English descent, who came to Harrington in 1812. Priscilla's father was one of three 
brothers, Tobias, William, and Allen, who came together from England about 1778, and 
settled in the extreme eastern part of Maine. 

Left fatherless at an early age, and realizing all too soon that a few acres of land in Maine 
is no insuperable barrier against the ills of poverty, Lewis felt the necessity not only of self- 
support, but also of the support of his mother and sisters. Whether Saturn or what partic- 
ular planet stood foremost in the sky at his birth we do not know ; but the old adage, " Born 
on Saturday, work hard for a living," certainly proved true in his boyhood and earlier 
manhood. 

His mother, who still survives, an intelligent and devoted Christian woman, brought up 
her children with strict discipline and patient care. She strove to inspire in them the 
highest sentiments of courtesy, morality, and piety, well knowing that these are a better 
heritage than houses and lands. She exacted respect and obedience from all the family ; if 



i;;6 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

\ 

the children were away from home she knew where and with whom they were, for the}- left i 

home only with her permission. Moreover, in her household industry was the law ; each had 

his appropriate work, here Satan found no mischief for idle hands to do. Consequently, 

when, at the age of fifteen, Lewis left home, he went forth equipped with those principles " 

which, developing and strengthening by the storms of life, produced those sterling qualities 

— energy, self-reliance, and integrity — so conspicuous in his manhood. i 

His educational advantages were limited. He received only such instruction as was 
afforded in the district school at that time ; but, quick in grasping ideas, and not less persist- 
ent in mastering details, he became proficient in the common branches ; could read, write, 
and cipher even "to the rule of three," and was regarded by his school-fellows as a "smart 

scholar." In after years he attended for several terms Washington Academy, located at 1 

East Machias, Maine. Here he studied the natural sciences and the Latin language. At 
this time J. C. Caldwell, afterwards colonel and major-general in the L^nited-States army, and 
later minister of the United States to L^ruguay and Paraguay, was his teacher. | 

For a few years after leaving home, Lewis worked as a mechanic, now in the ship-yard, j 

now at the carpenter's bench, and finally learned the wheelwright's trade at Machias, in 1858 ' 

and 1859. But mechanical pursuits were not suited to his tastes, and after his course of .stud\ 
at Washington Academy, he decided to seek some other occupation. Naturally not robust, * 

he had, nevertheless, so economized his physical powers that he could often endure more 
than others endowed by nature with stronger constitutions. 

NoWcame the stirring events of the Civil War. The Ccdl for volunteers met with a 
loyal response from the " Pine-Tree State," and the Sixth Maine was quickly enrolled. 
Among other young men burning with zeal to defend their countrv's flag was Mr. Campbell ; 
but bis widowed mother said, " You must not go. How can I spare )'ou .' " And he, ready in 
manhood to respect her wishes, as in boyhood her commands, suppressed the promptings of 
his patriotic breast and remained at home. During the winter of 1861 and 1862, he found 
employment at the Machias custom-house. Again came the call, " Three hundred 
thousand more," and this time, Mr. Campbell, having in the meantime attained his majority, 
believed that duty, "stern daughter of the voice of God," called upon him to leave all and 
risk all for the safety of his native land. Accordingly, in August, 1862, when the war had 
progressed beyond the holiday stage, beyond the period of mere enthusiasm, to a point 
where the serious nature of service in the army was in some degree understood, and he who 
now enrolled himself as a soldier must abandon for the time reasonable expectations of suc- 
cess and preferment at home, for the fatigues, dangers, and hardships of military service, we 
find him duly enrolled as a private soldier. Mr. Campbell's record is no ordinary one. He 
served in the army something more than three years and a half. Soon after enlistment he was 
promoted to the rank of orderly sergeant, that being the highest non-commissioned officer of 
the line. He was in five battles, and in all the minor engagements in which his company and 
regiment participated, making from tweh'e to fifteen in all. The company which he had joined 
was commanded by Captain, afterwards Brevet-Brigadier-General Baldwin. After a short 
period of elementary drill and instruction, the company was found sufficiently ailvanced in 
organization and discipline to be assigned to duty, and proceeded to Yorktown, Virginia, 
where it joined the Eleventh Maine Regiment of United-States Volunteer Infantry, com- 



LElVrS WILLIAM CAMPBELL. i57 

niaiidetl by Col. Harris M. Plaisted, afterwards brigadier-general, and subsequently member of 
Congress and later governor of Maine, and was assigned to its place in the line as Company 
B. °Here the subject of our sketch was introduced to scenes of deep interest, both from 
their novelty and historic associations. Our gunboats steamed over the same waters that 
the keels of the old French fleet under Count de Grassc had ploughed, and the regiment was 
encamped and performed the evolutions of drill and review on the very ground where the 
memorable siege and surrender of Lord Cornwallis and his army had occurred. The varied 
scenery of the York River, and the broad expanse of Chesapeake Bay, made a picture 
that might well command the attention during times of leisure, but the working hours of the 
young soldier were fully occupied with the tasks and duties preparatory to his new occupation, 
and n'ecessary to enable him to reduce to the practical and efficient knowledge of the trained 
veteran the lessons and theory of prior months. But the greatest danger of the field is 
not in the bullet. The climate of Yorktown proved as deadly as its autumnal sunshine was 
delightful. Sickness and death of comrades rendered the survivors willing and more than 
willing to exchange the monotony of camp life for the fatigues and hardships of the march. 
The regiment was ordered from Yorktown to New Berne, North Carolina, then to Beaufort. 
From there to Hilton Head, and thence to Beaufort, South Carolina. It was on this voyage 
that there occurred the loss at sea of the first Monitor. This historic vessel, which had 
saved so much of our fleet as the rebel ram Merrimack had not destroyed, and probably 
averted great national disaster, having accompanied the fleet thus far, in the night found- 
ered and went down in a terrible storm. 

From the last post his regiment proceeded to Fernandina, Florida, where the summer 
was spent in picket duty and in the construction of fortifications. The regiment was next 
ordered to Morris Island, South Carolina, where it was for some months employed in prose- 
cuting under Major-General J. O. A. Gilmore the siege of Charleston. It was here that 
Captain Selmer of Company B., afterwards Colonel Selmer, an accomplished artillerist, who 
had received his military education in Europe, with forty volunteers from the Eleventh 
Maine, planted and successfully worked the celebrated battery known as the " Swamp 
Ano-el." This was a battery mounting a great rifled gun, and constructed out in the 
marshes almost within point-blank range of the rebel works in front of Charleston, and 
designed to throw shells into the business portion of the city, wrecking and setting on fire 
the "buildings, and, if possible, to burn and destroy Charleston. Subsequently, several 
companies, of which Mr. Campbell's company was one, garrisoned Fort Wagner, and 
acquired considerable proficiency in artillery drill. During the winter the iron-clad monitor 
Weehawken went down off Morris Island in a terrific gale. The monotony of garrison life 
was relieved by the advent uf a powerful side-wheel steamer, a blockade-runner, which, 
attempting to run the blockade into Charleston, was a target for the boys to practise on with 
the hundred-pounder rifled Parrott guns of Fort Wagner. Orderly-Sergeant Campbell as the 
ranking non-commissioned officer of his company had charge of the working of the guns 
handled by them, and rendered most efficient service. On Morris Island the energies and 
endurance of the men was severely tried by the almost constant labor at the mortars in the 
bombardment of h'ort Sumter, and in the maintenance of the long and tortuous picket line, 
made necessary by the topography of the island and its accessibility to the enemy by water 



■58 



NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY 



towards the mainland. Frequent artillery contests took place between the hundreu-pouiulcr 
Parrott guns in our advanced batteries and the guns of the shore batteries of Charleston, of 
which latter the " Bull of the Woods " paid us compliments that made up in directness what 
they lacked in courtesy. But here as elsewhere, during this soulheru exijcditionary period, 
the rigorous duties and constant hardships of mililar)' life were more than compensated for 
by frequent change of scene and climate, and a familiarity with tlic regions antl the people 
of the South, which could not have been acquired in the Army of the Potomac. Then, too, 
the Morris-Island experience afforded rare opportunity for instruction in the elementary 
principles and practice of gunnery. l"he non-commissioned officers, of whom Mr. Campbell 
was one of the most intelligent and efficient, had the immediate charge of the mortars, 
which were planted in batteries besieging Fort Sumter, to prevent the garrison of that forti- 
fication from repairing the breaches in the walls of that structure. The computation of the 
distance of a hostile battery, as shown by the time required for the sound of a discharge to 
reach us tiavelling at the rate of eleven hundred feet a second, the length in seconds at 
which a fuse must be cut to insure an explosion at the proper point, and the angle at which 
a gun must be elevated to throw a return shot ; the fixing of ranges and elevations from 
Fort Wagner to St. Michael's spire and other points in the city and suburbs, were among 
the things that engaged the attention of the young soldier, subjects for which his studious 
habits and academic studies in New Englaml especially fitted him, and winch lent to this 
part of his experience an interest and a charm that the monotonous tramp, tramp, tramp, of 
the severe though not less necessary campaigning of the Army of the Potomac in Virginia 
could not afford. From these duties, amid the soft breezes and under the fleecy skies of 
this southern clime, the brigade was ordered to Fort Monroe, there to join the Army of the 
James, for the purpose of making a strong movement against Richmond on the south side of 
the James River, and interposing between that city and Petersburg. The landing of the 
entire army was effected during a single night, and was immediately followed by an advance 
on Richmond. The Army of the James pushed forward to a position near and in the rear of 
Fort Darling, from which, having fought the unsuccessful battle of Drury's Bluff, it fell back 
toward Bermuda Hundred, from which position a reconnoissance in force was made, culmi- 
nating in an attack on a body of troops guarding Beauregard's line of communication with 
RichmontI, in which action Sergeant Campbell received his first wound. During the sum- 
mer there was intrusted to the brigade to which the Eleventh Maine belonged, and under 
Colonel Plaisted of that regiment, then commanding the brigade, the task of obtaining on the 
north side of the James River the first permanent foothold that the army had had there since 
McClcllan's memorable Peninsula campaign. The brigade was transferred across the James 
River on a pontoon bridge laid under protection of the gunboats, and deployed in front of 
Deep Bottom before daylight. By sunrise the work of erecting permanent fortifications for 
the defence of that position was well under way. This position was maintained by General 
Grant until the concentration of the entire army on the south side of the river in the spring 
of 1S65, at the opening of the last campaign of the war. These fortifications at Deep 
Bottom were the base of operations from which the second battle of Malvern Hill was 
fought. By them, the pontoon bridge, covered with wilted grass to deaden the soimd of 
footsteps and the rumble of artillery wheels, as the troops crossed it in the night, was pro- 



LEWIS WILLIAM CAMPBELL. jjg 

tected and screened from the enemy. By these fortifications the crossing of the army over 
a smgle bridge, in the face of a vigilant and aggressive enemy, was made practicable and 
safe : practicable, on account of the advantage afforded by ample room for deployment on 
the north side of the river ; safe, by reason of base of supply and well-protected line of 
retreat, neither of which conditions could have been afforded by the gunboats, because the 
bluffs were too high and precipitous. 

On the fourteenth day of August, 1864, there was fought the battle of Deep Run, and 
on the i6th the battle of Strawberry Plains, in which latter engagement Sergeant Campbell, 
after traversing the entire length of the line three times to carry orders, was severely 
wounded in the shoulder. These battles were part of an extensive system of military opera- 
tions, culminating in the capture of a position on the Wcklon Railroad. The Second Corps 
was, on the 12th of August, embarked on transports as for a movement by the way of Fort 
Monroe, but during the night the corps was ordered to Deep Bottom, and at sunrise 
deployed in line of battle at that point on the north side of the James River, with Sheridan's 
cavalry on the right toward Malvern Hill, and Foster's division, to which the Eleventh 
Maine belonged, on the left at Deep Bottom. To resist this movement. General Lee was 
obliged to draw forces from the south of the James, and on the iSth his right was so much 
weakened that General Grant ordered Warren to advance with the Fifth Corps and strike the 
Weldon Railroad. This movement was successfully made, seven miles of that important 
road destroyed, and the position held and occupied permanenth', though Lee, as soon as the 
troops could be brought back to the south side of the James, massed thirty guns with an 
adequate support of infantry, and made a determined assault upon the Fifth Corps on the 
2 1 St of August. 

During Sergeant Campbell's enforced absence from the regiment by reason of the 
wound received on the i6th, the presidential election of 1864 came on, and as it was the 
policy of the government to allow wounded soldiers to go home to vote, Sergeant Campbell 
obtained a furlough for that purpose, but failed to reach the polls in time, by reason of the 
exasperating delays of a Copperhead stage-driver. Sergeant Campbell rejoined his regiment 
ni January, 1865, and participated in all the stirring events of the last campaign. 

The regiment marched from the north side of the James River to the front of Peters- 
burg. Then was fought the battle of Hatcher's Run, in which he was a third time wounded, 
and where, in the uncertain light of a stormy dawn, when the broken but still defiant front 
of a crack Mississippi regiment, charging the Union line, hurled itself against our newly 
completed breastworks. Sergeant Campbell, in a hand-to-hand conflict, seized, and thought 
he had secured a Confederate standard, but the rebel color-guard wrested it away, leaving, 
however, in the grasp of Sergeant Campbell a gilded lizard that adorned the staff, which 
souvenir he has to-day. Then followed in rapid succession the breaking of the third line in 
front of Petersburg, the charge upon and capture of Forts Gregg and Baldwin, which 
together constituted the keystone of the second line, the latter of which forts was captured 
by the Eleventh Maine alone. Then the quiet Sunday encampment in front of the massive 
first line, the only barrier between the Union army and Richmond, which was to be 
stormed at daybreak on the morrow. Then the discovery on Monday morning that these 
magnificent works, which constituted the last ditch of th: doomed Confederacy, had been 



i(5o NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

abandoned during the night ; then the swift hard march in pursuit of the rebel army, tlie 
burning of bridges, the capture of freight trains, the frequent skirmishing of cavalry with 
the rear-guard of the enemy ; and finally, on that memorable Sunday morning at Appo- 
mattox, the surrender of Lee's army, April 9, 1865, on which day Sergeant Campbell had 
his neck-kerchief shot off, and received his commission as second lieutenant of infantry. 
After the return of the Army of the Potomac, he served with credit as acting assistant 
adjutant-general on the staff of the commandant of the Northeast district of Virginia, 
stationed at Warrenton. Later, Lieutenant Campbell was detailed in the Freedman's 
Bureau at Culpepper Court-IIousc, Virginia, with the duties and authorities of a magistrate 
as to all matters pertaining to the freedmen and their former masters, both civil and crimi- 
nal. These events conclude a period in the life of Mr. Campbell, which, though full of 
hardship and danger, will always, when viewed in retrospect, be found replete with thrilling 
reminiscence and not devoid of pathos ; a period of patriotic sacrifice and honorable ambi- 
tion ; a period not unworthy to stand in the long line of brave deeds and illustrious careers 
that embellish the history of the clan and race %vhose name he bears. 

After the war, Wx. Campbell returned to Machias, IMaine, and associated himself in the 
book and stationery business with C. O. Furbush, editor of the Machias Republican. After 
a few years he became partner in the same business with Ignatius Sergeant, Esq., who for 
many years was Spanish consul at ]\Lichias. But, like many young men of our New- 
Flngland States, ambitious for a wider field, an opportunity to win a home and name, Mr. 
Campbell left Machias in the spring of 1869, and, following "the Star of Empire" westward, 
came to Minneapolis. Here an older sister, Mrs. W. H. Lawrence, had lived since 1S54. 
To her home he was warmly w-elcomed. 

Mav 31, 1871, Mr. Campbell was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Goodhue Fisk, a 
woman whose character combines in harmonious proportions those qualities which make up 
man's true helpmate, — a faithful wife, a devoted mother. The nuptial ceremonies were 
celebrated at the residence of Ex-Gov. J. S. Pillsbury (Mrs. Pillsbury being an older sister 
of Miss Fisk) ; and it was an occasion of more than ordinary interest, since at the same time 
another sister, Mary A. Fisk, was led to the altar by T. F. Andrews, Esq. At this double 
marriage Rev. James Tompkins, D.D., now of Chicago, officiated. Mrs. Campbell is a 
native of New Hampshire ; he.r ancestors are of Scotch-English descent. Her immediate 
family are noted for " ministers and deacons ;" however, business men and statesmen are not 
wanting. Woodbury Fisk, recently deceased, of the firm of Crocker, Fisk & Co., in 
Minneapolis, was her brother. E.\-Gov. Ezekiel Straw, of New Hampshire, is a cousin ; and 
another cousin is Professor Frank W. Fisk, the honored president of the Congregational 
Theological Seminary at Chicago. Two amiable daughters, Mahala Pillsbury and Mary 
Andrews, born, respectively, July 12, 1873, and October 26, 1873, gladden the home of Mr. 
and Mrs. Campbell. 

In the great revival which swept over our land in 1S57 and 185S, Mr. Campbell made a 
public profession of his religious faith, and united with the Baptist church at Machias, Maine. 
Subsequently his views of doctrine changed, and after he came to Minneapolis he united 
with the First Congregational Church, of which he is still a devout member. For twelve 
years he served the church as deacon. Of such as he the apostle Paul approves, "Not 



LEWIS WILLIAM CAMPBELL. ,6. 

double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre." Of his fidelity in 
Christian work, a former pastor. Rev. J. L. Scudder, of Jersey City, thus speaks : " I admire 
him particularly for his independence. He had a mind of his own, and if he thought 
himself right on any question, he feared not to advocate his position in the face of over- 
whelming opposition. He always had a reason for the faith that was in him, and his lean- 
ings were always in the direction of a sound practical common sense, and yet, with all his 
positivencss, he was the most charitable and tolerant of men. His theory of church gov- 
ernment was that every one should e.xpress his mind frankly and pertinaciously, and tl'ien 
that all should abide the will of the majority and 'kiss all round,' metaphorically speaking." 
He add.s, " Socially, Deacon Campbell was an ecclesiastical treasure. He seemed especia'llv 
called of God to hunt up the stranger and make him feel at home. ... I am certain when 
the deacon gets to heaven he will have more lian'dshakcs from those he welcomed in tiie 
.sanctuary on earth than any other man in the great metropolis of the Northwest." In the 
Bible-school he has not been less active ; for nine years he was the efficient superintendent, 
and since then has proved himself to be a successful teacher. We cannot refrain from' 
again quoting from Rev. Mr. Scudder, on this phase of his work : " In conducting a large 
Bible-class he had no equal. He never lectured, he simply steered, and he did it \o perfe°c- 
tion." The present pastor, Rev. George R. Merrill, confirms the above testimony in regard 
to Mr. Campbell's zeal in religious work ; he speaks of him as " intensely individual,''' as 
having enthusiasm combined with conservatism, and possessing an "unconscious tact," 
whereby he keeps a large Bible-class interested. 

Mr. Campbell has been a member of the executive committee of the State Sunday- 
School Association for many years, and for two years past chairman of the State Central 
Committee, and president of this as.sociation for the year 1S89. He is also prominently 
identified with the Congregational Union in the city, and the Minnesota Congregational 
Club. In all his religious and social work Mr. Campbell has ever found in his wife an 
efficient helper ; for eighteen years she has ably discharged the responsible duties of the 
superintendent of the primary department in the Bible-school of the First Congregational 
Church, and is also the honored president of. the Minneapolis Primary Teachers' Union. 

Mr. Campbell has at different times been identified with various temperance organizations 
as the Independent Order of Good Templars and Sons of Temperance. He is also a Free- 
mason, a member of the Grand Army and of the Loyal Legion. None more interested than 
he m the benevolent enterprises of the city and State ; of this fact many a society has had 
substantial proof. His benevolent gifts follow a well-matured plan. Owing to a marked 
trait in Mr. Campbell's character, his sociability, he has attached to himself a large circle of 
friends and acquaintances. In his intercourse with the- different classes in society, his 
conduct exhibits true courtesy and sincerity, guided by sound judgment. He will doff his 
hat as politely to a peasant as to a prince ; if any one must be passed by in the rush and 
whirl of business it is never a child, never an unfortunate person ; he is truly the children's 
patron, the stranger's friend, and the widow's benefactor. Many a young man who has come 
from his eastern home to Alinneapolis, and found himself, through untoward circumstances, 
without money and friends, will hold in grateful remembrance Mr. Campbell's encouraging 
words and timely aid. i\Iany a widow's heart has been made to sing with joy at the unet 



1 62 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

pected relief in her direst need. Not until the books are opened at the Great Day will a 
tithe of his generous deeds be known, so unostentatious and unassuming the giver. 

In politics he has always been a stanch Republican. He is by no means an idle 
looker-on in a political campaign ; and yet, in his own words, never seeking, never holding 
ofifice. Mr. Campbell has supplemented the knowledge gained from text-books by travel, 
both at home and abroad. By this means he has acquired that stock of general information 
which tends to free the mind from narrow local prejudices, and to form a basis of genuine 
philanthropy. lie has visited nearly every State in the Union, and many of the leading 
countries of Europe — has picked oranges along the St. John's River, Florida, and on the 
Palatine Mill of Rome; explored the labyrinthine caverns of Mammoth Cave, and the more 
gloomy vaults of the Catacombs ; has climbed Bunker-Hill Monument, and the monumental 
mound on the plains of Waterloo. As his travels abroad were not merely to follow out a 
tourist's itinerary, but were made largely in the interests of his business, he was brought 
into contact with many leading business men, and saw also much of the political life of the 
different states of ICurope. Mr. Campbell and family sailed from New York in May, 1885, 
on the palatial steamer City of Rome, with most delightful anticipations of the coming 
months to be spent in rest and recreation in European travel. This ocean voyage is no 
unimportant prelude to the scenes that greet the traveller as the curtain rises on the Old 
\\'oil(I. Who can forget it .' Those days of idle dreaming, gazing out upon the mirror-like 
surface of the ocean ; those moments of excitement when the waves lash themselves in 
foaming fury and threaten destruction ; those phosphorescent scintillations and gorgeous 
sunsets; those friendships formed in a day, often transient, often lasting; those exhibitions of 
our fallen human nature, affording rare opportunities for culture of toleration and patience ; and, 
finally, that concomitant "so absorbing, so degrading, so without remedy," and yet withal 
so appetizing — sea-sickness. Who, I ask, would forego such an experience and be trans- 
ferred to foreign shores in the twinkling of an eye.' At the first appearance of the 
Emerald Isle, the tourist forgets all discomforts and eagerly awaits the first act of the 
drama, " Paddy at Home." 

To Mr. Campbell the trip through Ireland and Scotland was especially interesting. He 
stood on ancestral soil ; he saw the plaid of his clan on the streets and in the shops. In 
imagination he saw the brave Campbells, decked with the wild myrtle, gathering from near 
and far, "till at the rendezvous they stood by hundreds, each trained to arms since life began, 
owning no tie but to his clan." 

As his business detained him several months in London, he had an opportunity to 
witness many interesting ceremonies. The lord mayor's show, on the 9th of November ; the 
amusing pantomimic procession of "Guy Fawkes ; " the formal opening of the Colonial 
Exposition by Her Majesty Queen Victoria ; and the e.xciting scenes in connection with the 
"Bread Riot " in 1886. His generous friend, Mr. William Frederick Klein (than whom no 
one is a better representative of the true English gentleman at home, the prince in his 
castle) and his cultured sons and daughters entertained Mr. Campbell and family in the 
most hospitable manner, and gave in their honor several parties, to which were invited a 
select circle of friends from the best London society. Mr. Campbell was also a guest at 
the reception given to Americans by Minister Phelps, on the Fourth of July, 18S5. 



LEWIS WILLIAM CAMPBELL. 163 

In the winter of 1886, Mr. Campbell and family left London for a trip on the Continent. 
At Brussels they were present at the semi-centennial celebration of the introduction of 
railroads into Belgium. Here they also visited the National Exposition. They stopped for 
a few weeks at the quaint old city of Gottingen, Germany ; while here, Mr. Campbell 
witnessed an e.xhibition of that barbarous custom still prevalent in the older university towns 
— the duel of honor. In Berlin they were one afternoon among the people on the square 
who eagerly waited for the appearance of Kaiser Wilhelm as he came to the window to bow 
to the soldiers, who, in dress parade, passed his palace daily at 12 m. They also visited 
the Mausoleum at Charlottenburg, where William III. and Louise of Mecklenburg are 
entombed. They were also at the Landstag, the Prussian Parliament ; but Prince 
Bismarck (who was the chief object of attraction), who usually presided at this Diet, was not 
present. From Berlin they went to Dresden, stopping here only long enough to see the 
"Sistine Madonna," at the galleries, and the collections of "antique china;" and then 
on through Saxon Switzerland to Vienna; thence over the Julian Alps to Venice. Here 
travellers must pause to live, if only for a few days in this unique European city, '■ which has 
floated down amid a thousand wrecks, uninjured, from the Old World to the New." They 
climb the Campanile of St. Mark's, ride in a gondola, and cross the "Bridge of Sighs;" 
and then, with regret, they leave this wonderful city, and, following the usual route of the 
tourist, visit Florence, Rome, "aim of every man's desire," and Naples, including Vesuvius 
and Pompeii. On the return trip they take in Milan, St. Gothard, Bale, Paris, and, by no 
means the least important, the English Channel. As Mr. Campbell is not one of those who 
travel simply to say, " I have been there," his whole European trip was a series of object 
lessons, the details of which were duly mastered and can be reproduced with wonderfLil 
exactness. Thus he has not only a large collection of foreign pictures, curiosities, etc., with 
which his home is adorned, but he has also a fund of incidents of travel, with which he 
entertains the many friends who from time to time spend an hour at his pleasant home. 

Owing to his business insight and knowledge of the ways of men, Mr. Campbell moved 
with but little friction among railroad ofificials, custom-house officers, hotel porters, etc. ; and 
thus his party were spared much of the discomfort of the ordinary traveller. While others 
were looking in their "Conversation Guides " for the proper word, or vainly trying to make 
their Americo-French intelligible, he bought tickets, checked baggag'e, and got himself and 
family comfortably seated in the railway coach. He would doubtless tell the prospective 
tourist that an acquaintance with the foreign languages may be a pleasant accessory to the 
traveller, but not a necessity ; that a little "push " and tact, supplemented by a few coins 
for triiikgcld, are worth more than a smattering of any language which must be pieced 
out with "guides" and "handbooks." While on their tour Mr. Campbell had many oppor- 
tunities to see America through the glasses of a foreigner, and was often amused. Riding, 
one day, on the cars in company with an old man and his daughter, he noticed that they 
seemed to take a peculiar interest in him. After a while the young lady, in broken 
English, ventured to speak with him, said that she had a brother in America about whom 
her parents were very anxious, and in the most pitiable tones she then asked, " What kind 
of people are they in America.' Will they let my brother starve.'" Mr. Campbell assured 
her of the benevolence of his native land, upon which she and her father were evidently 



,64 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

comforted. Upon later inquiry, it was ascertained that the young man in question was board- 
ing at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. In conversation, one day, with an Englishman, the 
latter spoke of having two brothers in America who were prosperous, and were well pleased 
with the country. " But," said the speaker, " I have this against your country : you have no 
noblemen there." " In regard to that you are misinformed," replied Mr. Campbell. " In 
America every honest, industrious man is a nobleman ; and from what you say of your 
brothers I judge they are already in the ranks of the nobility." 

Soon after Mr. Campbell came to Minneapolis, he became a partner with his brother-in- 
law, W. II. Lawrence, in the flouring business. They purchased the River Mill, located on 
the east side, just below the falls. In the spring of 1872 this mill was destroyed by fire ; it 
was a total loss, and Mr. Campbell found himself without a dollar in the world. It was a 
time of trial and discouragement. However, his knack of hoping, and resolute go-aheada- 
tivencss, enabled him to begin life anew. He soon found employment with C. A. Pillsbury 
& Company, as book-keeper. At that time the business of this firm, now so extensive, was 
in its infancy. It could be easily managed by C. A. Pillsbury and Mr. Campbell. He repre- 
sented the firm at the Centennial in Philadelphia, in 1876, and again at the New-Orleans E.xpo- 
sition, in 18S5. He remained with the firm more than fourteen years as chief adviser, during 
which time the business rapidly increased, the daily capacity passing upward from 400 to 
10,500 barrels. In 1887, he bought a one-third interest in the Minneapolis ;\Iill, the firm 
being made up of George W. Crocker, Woodbury Fisk, and L. W. Campbell. The daily 
capacity of this mill is 1200 barrels. The firm has a high reputation, not only in the Flour 
City, but among the business men of the Northwest. Mr. Campbell is a member of the 
Chamber of Commerce, and one of the organizers of the Twin-City Commercial Club, and 
member of the Board of Trade, being one of its directors for the year 1889. Many testi- 
monies might be given in regard to Mr. Campbell's standing in business circles. We give a 
few. A reliable flour merchant of London speaks of him as one naturally fitted to achieve 
success, since he is honest and courteous, and inspires all with confidence in his transactions. 
Moreover, he is regular and systematic in all his dealings, and expects the same punctuality 
from others. A prominent banker of Minneapolis, whose opinion has weight among his 
fellow-citizens, says : " As a business man I feel I could not speak too highly of him, as he 
has a rare combination of energy, punctuality, faithfulness, and conservative judgment." 

In closing this sketch perhaps we could not give a better summary of Mr. Campbell's 
life up to the present, than by quoting the words of a friend who has known him intimately 
for twenty-five years ; we believe the words apply to him equally as a citizen, a soldier, and a 
Christian : " He never undertook anything but he left it better than he found it." 




/iM-y-i -y-^^U^-^^ /i. Jo-,^^ ^icU^ 



HANMDAL IIAMLIX KIMBALL, M.D. 165 



HANNIBAL HAMLIN KIMBALL, M.D. 

HANNIBAL HAMLIN KIMBALL, M.D., of Minneapolis, was born in Carmel, 
Penobscot County, Maine, August 18, 1843. His father, John Kimball, now deceased, 
was also a native of Maine ; a lawyer by profession, and a highly educated gentleman, 
holding honorable public positions in his State. John Kimball was the intimate friend of 
that remarkable man, Hannibal Hamlin, after whom he named his son. Dr. Kimball's 
mother — a lady of unusual refinement and amiability — is still living at Bangor, Maine. 
To her influence and example in his boyhood. Dr. Kimball largely attributes whatever 
success he has met with in life. Every summer foi" many years past has found him back at 
his old home in Maine on a visit to his mother, for whom he has the profoundest affection. 
She is of Spanish ancestry. Her maiden name was Abigail Homans. 

Dr. Kimball's early education was obtained at the district school, Hampden Academy, and 
Lewiston Seminary (now Bates College). His professional education was begun by reading 
medicine with Dr. Paul A. Stackpole, at Dover, New Hampshire. Afterwards he entered 
the Pittsfield (Massachusetts) Medical College, and subsequenth' j^ursued courses in Bcllevue 
Medical College, New York, and in the medical department of Bowtloin College, graduating 
at the latter institution in 1866. During his senior }'car at Bowdoin he filled the chair of 
Professor of Surgery. 

For eighteen months duiing the late wai', Di. Kimball, then of course a ver}' young man, 
was aiding the L^nion cause and liis knowledge of practical surgery in the capacity of 
contract surgeon to Dr. S. 1?. Morri.sun, a surgeon of the regular army. 

In 1867 he came to ^Minneapolis. As the city was then small (about five thousand 
inhabitants), and not greatly in need of doctors, he informs us that he at first found an 
abundance of leisure. 

The doctor is fond of recalling those early days of his life in Minneapolis when two other 
young professional men and himself had desk room together in the same very humble 
quarters. The others were attorneys — J. M. Shaw and Thomas Lowry. They seem to 
have been congenial companions, and though business was not always as brisk as it might 
be, yet they passed the time very pleasantly and had great expectations. All three have 
since met with substantial success. 

Mr. Lowry, having abandoned the law, is to-day one of the foremost business men of 
the Northwest. Mr. Shaw has served as judge upon the district bench and now enjoys a 
lucrative law practice. Dr. Kimball has long been in the enjoyment of the honors and 
emoluments which come from an extensive and successful medical and surgical practice. 

There were many hardships for a physician in those early days. Frequently the rides 
were long, the roads poor, and the winter intensely cold. But Dr. Kimball seems to have 
passed through it all unimpaired in health, and has to-day a remarkably powerful and striking 
physique. Though for some years past having a practice so extensive that it might well be 



|66 XORTinVEST BIOGRAPHY. 

expected to tax the powers of endurance of any man, his friends say they have never seen 
him appear jaded or iicard liiiri complain of weariness. 

In 1870 Dr. Kimball was married to :\Iiss Grace Everett IMorri.soii, the daughter of 
Hon. Dorilus Morrison, one of the pioneers of Minnesota, and the first mayor of Minneapolis. 
Mrs. Kimball is a lady of refinement and liberality. It is generally known in Minneapolis 
that for several years past she has spent a considerable i)ortion of her time and means in 
public charities, especially in connection with the Northwestern Hospital, which institution 
she was instrumental in founding. But it is not generally known, and probably never will 
be, how much she has done in the way of private charitv, for it was done quietly and with- 
out subscription books, but where it did the most good — to the deserving poor. 

Dr. Kimball has several times visited Europe, spending much of his time abroad in the 
ho.spitals and medical schools of the universities. He has held the highest offices in the 
medical societies of his State and county. For fifteen years past he has been surgeon of 
the Trunk Lines of railway entering Minneapolis, and has been United-States Examiner for 
pensions since 1869. 

In manner Dr. Kimball is energetic, frank, and cordial. These qualities, combined with 
a high sense of honor, — professional and otherwise, — and his well-knowai generosity, have 
not only rendered him popular among his professional associates, many of the younger of 
whom he has aided, but have made for him a host of friends among all classes throughout 
his section. 

The following opinion of his attainments and peculiarities as a physician and surgeon 
has been contributed by one of his own profession who has known him for many years, and 
is therefore qualified to speak : — 

As a medical man Dr. Kimball stands among the first. Possessed to a large degree of that 
valuable attribute commonly known as personal magnetism, having a remarkable acumen and vast 
experience, he inspires his patients from the outset with confidence, and with unerring judgment 
arrives at a diagnosis. For many years, almost from the birth of Minneapolis, Dr. Kimball and sur- 
gery have been nearly synonymous ; and many an individual can gratefully testify to his skilful and 
kindly manipulation and care. Some years ago the doctor went abroad, where he had abundant 
means of comparing Kuropean and American methods, and, being a progressive man, not confined 10 
any rut. he possessed himself of many valuable ideas, which he puts into daily practice. His genial, 
hearty manner has brightened many a sick-room and hastened recovery from many a bed of pain. 





^^^2:^^>^''^^^^^?^'«^ 



( 



WILLIAM M. BARROWS. 167 



WILLIAM M. BARROWS. 

MR. BARROWS was bom at Augusta, Maine, September i, 1830. His father, Micah, 
was born in Sidney, Maine, October 13, 1804; his mother, Judith Barrows, was born 
in Vassalborough, Maine, March 5, 1806. Micah Barrows died February 28, 1858, aged 
fifty-five years, rive months, and fifteen days. Judith Barrows died October 17, 1888, aged 
eighty-two years, si.x months, and twenty-nine days. From Augusta the family moved to 
Orono, Penobscot County, Maine, where Frederick C. Barrows was born March 29, 1832, also 
Elisha and Elijah Barrows were born June 28, 1834. Isaac Barrows was born April 29, 1836. 
They then moved to Milford, Penobscot County, Maine, where Eliza Barrows was born 
August 27, 1839. From there they moved to Lincoln, Penobscot County, Maine, where 
Richmond Barrows was born August 22, 1841. From there they moved to Chester, on the 
opposite side of the river from Lincoln, where Helen Barrows was born November 7, 1845, 
also Betsy Ann Barrows was born October 5, 1846, and died September 3, 1853, aged six 
years, ten months, and twenty-eight days. Zachariah T. Barrows was born February 3, 
1848, and died September 7, aged seven months and four days. On moving from Lincoln 
to Chester they went on a farm and lived in a log house from 1836 to 1839, when a new 
house was built. It was hard struggling for life, and hard work to keep the wolf away from the 
door, until the children grew up so they could help. Their sufferings were many, and many 
privations of the comforts of life were patiently endured. There were no schoolhouses in the 
town for five years after they moved there. What school there was was held in private 
families, and three months a year was the extent of the school term. 

Up to the time he was fifteen, William stayed most of the time with his father on the 
farm, but occasionally worked for some of the neighbors. The wages he got for this labor 
went to his parents. After two years he commenced working in the woods and on the drive. 
In the winters of 1847 and 1848 he worked for Leander Merrill on the Mattawamkeag River, 
a tributary of the Penobscot, for ten dollars per month, of which his parents received 
the full amount. In the spring following the winter, he cooked on the drive for ]\Ierrill. 
In the winter of 1848 and 1849 and spring, he worked for Joseph Hammon, on Salmon 
Stream, in the lonely woods of Maine, taking charge of a crew of men in the winter, and 
second foreman on the drive in the spring, for which he received fifteen dollars per month 
in the winter and a dollar and a quarter on the drive per day. His only aspirations were to 
be foreman in the woods, and wages were a secondary consideration, as his parents received 
most of the amount paid. 

In the summer of 1849 he left home, practically, and went to work on the Oldtown 
boom. In the fall and winter of 1849 and 1850 he worked for Joseph Smith and Stephen 
Cowen. They started from Oldtown the 20th of October, taking their supplies in boats, 
enough to last until it would freeze ; and teams could get into the woods a distance of about 
one hundred and twenty-five miles on tiie North Twin Lake, on the west branch of the 



t68 



KORTHUT.ST BIOGRAPHY. 



Penobscot. There were nine men, all toUl, and they went there to build camps and 
hovels for twenty men, four horses, and six o\en. The size of the camp was twenty-four 
feet square. It was built like two sheds running to a ridgepole in the centi-e. In the" 
centre was the smoke-hole, which was built of timber six inches in diameter, its size when 
completed being four by six, and four feet above the ridgepole. They then constructed 
bunks or berths on either side of the fire. The feather beds were composed of fir boughs. 
They worked from four o'clock in the morning until eight and nine at night. Tiieir cooking 
utensils were as follows : a tin reflector or baker, a bean pot, and a frying-pan. Their camp 
being located on the border of a lake necessitated their taking their dinners, which were chiefly 
composed of bread and boiled pork. They were nine months on the route, at eighteen dol- 
lars per month. The foreman said to him after they had been chopping a week or two, 
" Do you want to learn to chop ? " He replied in the affirmative. Said he, " Well, if you 
do I will teach you." He found that the knowledge he received from him was of great bene- 
fit in this particular line ever after. One night, after most of the crew had gone, he was 
still working at a tree that he was anxious to finish that night before he left. It was a tree 
for a mast, and had a long arm or limb that ran out at right angles with the tree into an elm. 
The limb was eighteen inches in diameter and twcntj'-fivc feet long. This he noticed when 
he first began chopping the tree, but did not remember it until it began to fall. The snow, 
being piled up six or eight feet around, left no way of escape from the falling tree, and con- 
sequently he lay down on his back with the idea that if the tree slipped from the stump, in 
falling, it would pass over him, and in this way he took his chances, but the tree moved slowly, 
and his intention was to watch the limb that was caught in the elm, but just at this time 
the limb gave way and was coming direct into his breast. Seeing the danger, he dodged 
his bodv, and the limb went into the ground by his side. 

When the lakes broke up in the spring, they started for the boom with the logs, and had 
a hard time of it, working for three nights and two days without stopping to rest. In the 
summer of 185 l i\Ir. Ikirrows commenced cruising fora firm by the name of Stevens & Gushing, 
Gushing of Bangor, and Stevens of Nickatau. He acted as log agent for the concern in the 
summer time, and contracted with them to haul logs in the winter. In the winter of 185 1 and 
1852 came his first independent operations, when he and his father hauled logs for the above 
company. They made during this operation about four hundred dollars, which they then 
thought was a large sum of money. In the spring of 1852 and 1853 young Barrows took 
charge of a drive for Stevens & Gushing. In the winter of 1853 and 1854 he formed a new 
partnership, with his brother, F. C. Barrows, and Gharles Snow. They operated on the 
South Twin Lake, on the west branch of the Penobscot, hauling logs by the thousand for 
Stevens & Gushing. In the summer of 1853 Mr. Barrows acted as agent for the above 
company. In the summer of 1854 he was still with Stevens & Gushing, acting as agent. 
During the winter of 185.}. and 1855 he formed the partnership of Maxfield & Barrows, cut- 
ting logs and hauling thcni for Stevens & Gushing. These operations were successful, the 
partners making nine hundred dollars apiece. Maxfield got his money and went West, but 
Barrows remained as log agent for Stevens & Gushing. The first of July, the company owed 
him, for labor in the woods and other operations, about three thousand dollars, as he had 
collected none of his pay. On the 3d of July he said he wanted some money, and received 



WILLIAM M. BARROWS. 169 

fifty dollars ; this he obtained for the purpose of being married. On the 4th he returned 
and found that the company had made an assignment, and tlicrefore he lost all his earnings. 
He then determined to come West, and was making arrangements to do so, when he was 
taken sick with the bilious fever. As soon as he was able to get around, he gathered up 
what he could, which was about a hundred and twenty-five dollars, paid the doctor's bill and 
his wife's board, and said to her, " Go home and stay with your parents, and I will go to 
Minnesota." He had but fifty cents upon his arrival, and left his wife nothing. He hired 
out to drive an ox team on the west branch of the Rum River, in 1855 and 1856, and 
worked for the firm of Mathews & Jones. He went East to see his wife in June, 1856. He 
returned, in September of the same year, and went into the woods to drive an ox team for 
Isaac Gilpatrick. The winter's operations established him as being an expert lumberman, 
and he found no trouble thereafter to get employment. 

In the summer of 1857, and the fall and winter of 1857 and 1S5S, he was employed by 
Liby & Keen to take charge of a crew of men. They left St. Anthony's Falls for Popaguama 
Falls, a distance by river of about fifty miles. They loaded their ox teams with supplies, 
and drove round to the moutii of the Pine River, there unloading, putting the supplies on 
fiat-boats, and taking the o.ven from there to the falls singly. Arriving on the fifth day of 
December, they built their camps and hovels and commenced the winter's operations, there 
being seventeen men, eight oxen, banking 2,400,000 feet of logs to the ninth day of March. 
On the eleventh day of March they put their oxen on the flat-boats, and brought them back 
to Crow Wing, where they unloaded them, and drove to St. Anthony's Falls. 

That summer, Mr. Barrows's father and mother and the family removed to St. Anthony, 
and the family, all joining in, built them a house in what was known as Meeker Town, abput 
a mile down the river from what was then known as Cheever Town, now the State Uni- 
versity. September i, he went East and got his wife and child. Returning, he left them 
with his father's family, and went to drive an eight-ox team for a woman known as " Old 
Maid Done." She, at that time, was in the grocery business, and the previous winter was in 
the lumber business. This was the winter of 1858 and 1859. This season they operated 
on what was known as the Little Pine River. Here they cut and hauled logs from the 
public domain. No entries had been made on the land, and the lumbermen would run a line 
around on what they expected to operate that winter ; this was the way they made their claim. 
Here they met with some trouble, for another party endeavored to take part of the land Miss 
Done had marked out for herself. Tliomas Hanson, thinking to drive them off from the claim, 
hired all of what were at that time known as the fighting men in the countrv, including two 
men in particular, by the name of Tripp, who were enemies of Miss Done. The crew in 
which Mr. Barrows belonged, being better workers than fighters, liauled a great many more 
logs than the Hanson crew did. Consequently they endeavored to get rid of him. One of 
the Tripps was married to a squaw, and in order to drive Barrows off, he tried to have his 
father-in-law murder one of the oxen, for which he knew he would likely be whipped. Tiie 
Indian's name was Gabareal He undertook to kill the ox, but failed in the attempt, and 
Barrows gave him a good drubbing with a stick. Gabareal hatl a son by the name of Dick, 
one of the braves among the Chippewas, then fighting the Sioux, at Blooming Prairie, on 
the Minnesota. He, being a smarter-appearing Indian than the re.st, attracted Barrows's 



I70 



NORTHWEST niOCRAPIiy 



attention, and he became acquainted with him. Mr. Tiipp informed Barrows, after he had 
whipped the old man, that Dick was coming home from White Fish Lake to murder 
him, and also told him the day he was coming, and adviseil him as a friend to leave. 
Barrows informed him that he would not leave under any circumst'inces, unless carried out. 
On the day appointed Dick put in an appearance : it was a Saturday night, and Barrows 
did not feel .safe. Knowing Indians as he did, and also something of Indian tactics, he 
was afraid Dick might shoot him in the back. He therefore determined, at an early hour 
Sunday morning, to make Mr. Dick a formal call. So, after taking care of his oxen, he 
went over to where Dick had pitched his wigwam, or tent, near Mr. Hanson's. On reach- 
ing the tent, he found Dick was asleep, and, pushing the blanket aside, which he used as the 
door to his wigwam, he stepped in and said, " Hello, Dick ! " He rose up, and, seeing who it 
was, answered, " Haugh." Barrows made his errand known, telling the savage that he knew 
his mission over there, and, also knowing him to be one of the braves, could not think for a 
moment that he would shoot him in the back, but would give him a fair chance for life. He 
said : " Choose your weapons, the axe, the tomahawk, the knife, or the gun, and we will try 
titles." At this lie jum[)cd np and seized the white man's hand, saying, " Kin sangata 
schickilta ogama," whicii, being interpreted, means, "brave ox teamster." By this name he 
was known in tlie woods for several years ; it being well known at that time tliat a white man's 
life among the Chippewas was not wortii a straw, which was a fact. Ever after that, Dick 
and he were the best of friends. Consequently they had no more trouble with the Indians 
or with their neighbors, each having all the timber that they wanted to cut tliat winter. 

Micah Barrows died during this winter, but his son knew nothing of it until three weeks 
afterwards, as the mail was brought on a tote-team, and that only came as supplies were 
needed. He returned home the ninth day of April, and only received for that winter's 
work what clothes he needed during the winter, a pair of shoes for his wife, a pair of overalls, 
and a woollen shirt. His father's family had all been together since they came to ^linnesota 
up to that time. His mother, with his brothers and sisters, moved from the house in 
Cheever Town to .St. Anthon}', leaving him and his wife in possession of the home, which 
they occupied until the next fall. Then he moved up to St. Anthony. He secured a pair 
of horses and a wagon, and found partial emplo3-ment in hauling goods from St. Paul to 
St. Anthony, and also to St. Cloud, or any other work during that summer and the following 
winter, frequently not receiving to exceed fifty cents a day for his services. He followed the 
occupation until the fall of 1S63. He then formed a partnership with Mr. Spafford, entering 
into a contract to cut, haul, and deliver logs into St. Anthony mill-pond, below the boom. In 
the fall of 1864 he formed a partnership with Joseph Dean, operating one winter. In the 
spring of 1865 he was foreman for J. Dean & Company on their drive. In the fall of 1865 he 
formed a partnership w-ith Andrew Hall to cut antl haul logs for the above firm, on Pine 
River. They closed out the partnership in the spring, and Barrows took the contract to 
drive the logs owned by J. Dean & Company into the limits of the Rum River and the 
Mississippi River Boom. 

In the fall of 1866 he formed a partnership with his brother, F. C. Barrows, the firm- 
name being I^arrows Brothers, which lasted for fourteen years, during which time they were 
under contract with J. Dean & Company to cut, haul, and drive logs ; the operations being 



WILLIAM III BARROWS. ,71 

varied, cutting from three to twelve million a year. In the spring of 1878, Barrows Brothers 
entered into a co-partnership with O. C. Merriman, J. S. Lane, and L. M. Lane, the firm being 
Merriman, Barrows & Company. This firm's business consisted in cutting, haulin"-, driv- 
ing, and manufacturing from 1 2,000,000 to 30,000,000 a year of lumber. They closed out 
the lumber business in May, 1888. When they wound up this business, Merriman & Bar- 
rows Brothers continued under this style in the lumber business until March i, 1889. 
In 1882, Merriman & Barrows Brothers formed a partnership and dealt in real estate. 
They did no other business until July, 1887, when they commenced closing out the 
business of Merriman, Barrows & Compan}-, above referred to. 

Mr. Barrows's grandfather, Elisha Barrows, was an Englishman, who came into Mas- 
sachusetts, with one brother, and was a captain during the Revolutionary War. He married 
a Scotch lady, who was very proud of her ancestry. They moved to Augusta, Maine, 
living on a farm, and raising a family of four boys and three girls, John, Elisha, Micah, 
Greenleaf, Betsey, Christiana, and Sarah. Elisha lived to the ripe old age of eighty-four 
years ; his wife died when she was about fifty-si.\-. The sons were farmers, settling in one 
neighborhood, where they lived and brought up their families, and died on the same farms 
that they started in their youth. The daughters, Betsy and Christiana, settled in Water- 
ville, Maine, Betsey marrying a Mr. Hatch, Christiana marrying a Mr. Moore. Sarah 
concluded that she had better live in single blessedness. Micah also married, and moved 
with his family to Orono, Maine. 

His wife was named Smart. Her grandfather, Richard Smart, was born at Monmouth, 
Maine, and died at the age of eighty-four. Her grandmother was born at Vassalborough, 
Maine, and died at the age of si.\ty-fivc ; raising a family of ten children, Hartwell, Isaac! 
Greenleaf, Sullivan, Judith, Pamelia, Betsy, Eliza, Lavinia, and Arvillia. They also dwelt 
on one farm, brought up their families, and lived and died in Vassalborough. Their 
nationality was Scotch-Irish. 

Mr. Barrows's education was very limited, there being no school in the vicinity of where 
his father lived. After he was old enough to realize the necessity of an education, his 
parents were too poor to send him away to school. 

His marriage occurred July 3, 1855, in Frankfort, Maine, where he was united to Nancy 
B. Fernald, by Abijah Kendall. After their marriage they went to Oldtown, and boarded 
there si.\ or eight weeks, she returning home to her parents, and he going West. The fruit 
of their marriage was si.\ children, William Henry, born March 12, 1857, in Frankfort, Maine ; 
Melvin P., born May 27, 1859, at Meeker Town, Minnesota; Jessie V., born March 5, 1861 ; 
Wylet R., born May 3, 1864, at St. Anthony, Minnesota; Lydia F., born December 14, 1867,' 
at St. Anthony, Minnesota; Edward P., born July i, 1875, at East Minneapolis. Jessie V. 
died April 14, 1861, at St. Anthony, Minnesota; and Melvin P. died March 13, 1873, aged 
thirteen years and ten months. 

Mr. Barrows attended the Methodist church until 1880, and then connected himself with 
the First Unitarian society of Minneapolis. 

He became a member of Cataract Lodge of the ancient order of Freemasonry, in 
1858, afterwards taking all the degrees to the thirty-second. 

In politics he is a Republican, and has never seen any reason for changing his doctrine. 
He was elected twice as an alderman of the City of Minneapolis, and served fi°ve years. 



172 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 



DR. J. H. AlURPHEY. 

THE fourth volume of this work is composed of material gathered exclusively throughout 
the Northwest, a section rich in biograpliical wealth, with a noble and rcMiiantic historv. 
The value of such a work depends upon its accuracy, and upon the information gained from 
personal interviews, or gathered from family records. It is to be regretted that several 
prominent citizens included in the plan of this biographical history, have failed to furnish 
the editor with sufficient data for a full life sketch. Among those who have failed to sui)ply 
suitable memoranda for their respective biographies may be mentioned Dr. Murphcy,a worth\- 
and estimable citizen of Minnesota, and one of those most appreciative of this work. The 
pressure of his professional engagements, together with the arduous duties of his calling, 
has doubtless prevented him from furnishing the requisite material for a full and accurate 
biography of his eventful life. 

Dr. J. H. Murphcy is one of the most eminent surgeons in the Northwest. His successful 
practice in the treatment of the various ailments to which mankind is subject, has rendered 
his name famous far and wide; and his eminent career, both as physician and surgeon, has 
opened to him a vast field of professional business, both at homo anil elsewhere. 

Dr. Murphc)- is one of the pioneers of the medical profession in Minnesota; and during 
tiiirty \ears has been one of the leading physicians in St. Paul ami in the adjacent territory. 
He is a prominent member of the Academy of Physicians, in the Northwest ; and during 
the past several years has been corresponding secretary of the Medical Association in adja- 
cent States, and is first vice-president of the National Association of Railway Surgeons. 

Dr. Murphey is still in the meridian of life ; full of vigor, energy, and expectation, with 
the signet of age not yet written upon his manly brow. He wears his years with becoming- 
dignity, free alike from vanity and ostentation. 

As biography e.\hibits the rank and dignity. of man in his individuality, it is hoped, that 
at some future da\-, a more fortunate delineator of character may be able to obtain from the 
subject of tliis brief antl imjierfcct sketch a full record of his eventful life ; revealing the toils 
and the privations of pioneer life in the development of a new civilization in the Northwest. 





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*.i?*-W-i 



i 



CHARLES HENRY CHADBOURN. 17S 



CHARLES HENRY CHADBOURN. 

CHARLES HENRY CHADBOURN was born November 8, 1831, in the town of 
Sanford, York County, Maine. His parents, whose names were Nathaniel and Ruth 
Chadbourn, were born March 8, 1788, and October 8, 1791. respectively, and their descend- 
ants were among the earliest settlers of that part of New England. 

The subject of this sketch was the tenth child of a family of eleven children by 
Nathaniel and Ruth, four brothers of whom are now living, all of them engaged in banking. 
His parents being farmers, the early life of Charles Henry was spent on the old homestead 
farm in the town of Sanford, where he with the other members of the family struggled hard 
with the sterile land to gain a living. Like many of the old families of that section, the 
Chadbourn family was not exempt from privation and want in their struggles for a subsist- 
ence, yet it is with pride that the descendants of many such New-England families can now 
be found scattered throughout the Northwest, who have largely contributed to its develop- 
ment, through their energy and perseverance. The industrial habits of the New-England 
people of that day were instilled into the very being of the youth, and in after years during the 
present century these precepts have not been forgotten. The Northwestern States of Mmne- 
sota and Wisconsin were particularly fortunate in securing among their first settlers a large 
sprinkling of these hardy sons and daughters of the " Old Pine-Tree State," who, thirty or forty 
years agcT, left their native hills and sought a home in the far West. 

dearies Henry was one of this number, who, with the older members of the Chadbourn 
family, believed that there was a niore profitable outlook in the future for themselves and 
their families in the then new West than could possibly be assured by living withm the 
confines of the granite walls which surround to this day almost every farm in the New- 
Eno-land States. The common-school education of those times, and one year at an academi- 
callnstitution in an adjoining town, were the educational privileges enjoyed by Charles Henry. 
At the age of seventeen years, he became uneasy, and desired to see more of the world. 
Before proceeding further with his future career, we will refer to an incident relating to that 
schoolhouse at Sanford Corners where young Henry's education began, as narrated January 
6, 1S88, in the Biddeford Journal, which is certainly a remarkable history of tnirty-si.^c 
Sanford' boys who graduated from the " Little Brown Schoolhouse." 

"Between forty and fifty years ago, more than seventy children and young people were crowded 
into the litde brown schoolhouse situated at the upper end of what is now Main Street, Sanford 
village Of these, forty-three were bovs, seven of whom died young. Tlie remaming thirty-six are 
all livin- except two, who iiave died recently. Their history is a remarkable one. They have all 
become^prosperous and useful, and most of them wealthy and prominent men. Four of them grew 
to be well-known lawyers, Moses M. Butler of Portland, Stillman B. Allen and William H. Miller 
of Boston, and William Emerv of Alfred. One, Albert Day, is a physician in Boston. Thirteen 
became prosperous mercliants, Horace P. Storer, Amariah Frost, Mitchell Frost, Stephen Dorman. 
and Fred Storer, in Portland ; Frank A. Allen, Willis Emery, and George Emery, in Boston ; George 



174 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

Slorer, in Micliigan ; George A. Frost and Charles H. Frost, in Springvalo ; Frank Frost, in Califor- 
nia ; and Moses W. Emery, in Logan, Kansas. One, Edwin H. Emery, is a wealtiiy farmer in Kansas. 

" Six of these boys went away and became bankers : Reuben W. Cliadbourn, in Cohimbus, Wiscon- 
sin ; Charles H. Cliadbourn and Smith Chadbourn, in Rochester, Minnesota ; Ciiarles C. Hutchinson, 
in Lowell ; and Titus Emery, in Philadelphia ; and Nathauiel Cliadbourn in lilue-Enrth City, Minnesota. 
Of the others, Sumner \. Kimball is superintendent of the Life-Saving Department at Washington ; 
Edwin Emery holds an otiice in the United-States Navy, and Charles .A. Shaw is a well-known patcjit 
solicitor in Boston. The residence of two, Loammi and Edwin Moulton, is not known to the writer, 
but at last accounts both were upright, successful men. Seven only of the thirty-six remain in San- 
ford, Charles O. Emery, Jonas Dorman, Prescoll Emery, Charles Moulton, Simon Stackpole, William 
A. Allen, and Geoige Allen. These are all leading citizens. 

"Sitting in those small, uncomfortable seats were four embryo mayois of their future respective 
cities. Moses ^L Butler has been mayor of Portland, Frank A. .'Mien of Cambridge, Moses W. 
Emery of Logan, and Charles A. Shaw of Biddeford. 

" This accounts for the thirty-six boys, thirty-four of whom are now living. It is a good illustra- 
tion of what a common-school education and New-England thrift and determination can and will 
accomplish. Can any other school district in this county show a better record ?" 

The California "gold-fever" breaking out abotit the time Henry graduated at the " Little 
Brown Schoolhouse," he became anxious to try his fortune in that distant and then almost 
unknown land. After many days of anxious thought, he ventured to broach the question of 
emigrating to California to his father, who then disapproved of the scheme in the following- 
language : " \Vcll, Henry, you have got tired of the old farm, have you, and want to get rich 
fast .' Well, you can't have a dollar from me to pay for passage on such a wild-goose chase 
as that. It is all humbug and nonsense that gold can be dug u[) in that way; and my advice 
is that )-ou had better be satisfied with a li\'ing from the old farm, which for forty years I 
have been working to subdue and improve, and it has always yielded us a good support, 
enabling me to give the children a good common-school education, pay my taxes, and lay by 
about one hundred dollars each year. This in some years has been hard to reach ; but, taken 
together, I am satisfied, and think you should be. Stick to the old farm, Henry, and give up 
the idea of getting rich fast by digging gold." 

This discouraging interview did not, however, satisfy the craving desires of \oung 
Henry ; and the exciting news of the great gold discoveries, which were published in the 
weekly MassacJuisctls Plotiglniiaii (which paper at that time was authority in man)- New- 
England households), caused a further interview with his father, who so far relented from his 
opposition to the emigration of his son that he gave his permission for hiiii to go out to work 
and earn the necessary money to pay his passage to California. This privilege was eagerly 
accepted by the boy, who readily secured work at fifty cents a day with neighboring farmers, 
and after about two years he found himself possessed of funds sufficient to take him to the 
Golden State. Embarking, he arrived in San Francisco in April, 1S52, with but twenty 
dollars left of his hard-earned savings. A tempestuous passage, and a severe attack of 
Panama fever, which he had suffered en route, did not discourage him or dampen his ardor ; 
and, proceeding at once to the mines, he commenced in earnest the work of " building up a 
fortune." Possessed of an iron constitutioii, Henry overcame all obstacles, and though the 



CHARLES HENRY CHADDOURN. 175 

fickle goddess of fortune did not smile upon him by revealing the hidden treasures of the 
mountains in fabulous quantity, he nevertheless, by strict economy and the practice of 
temperate habits (for which he is noted), acquired, in a few years, three or four thousand 
dollars, which was the nucleus for the comfortable fortune possessed by him in after years. 
The commencement of his career as a miner, when a stripling of a boy, and the character 
of the future man, is illustrated by his first day's work at mining. His resolution after that 
day's experience, not to "hire out" his labor, and allow others to control his actions, has 
been faithfully followed ever since. 

The story, as told by himself in after years, was that when he arrived at the mines he 
was anxious to get work at once; so, proceeding up a gulch in quest of a job, he struck a 
company of Cornishmen at work, and, not knowing tiie difference between an old coal-miner, 
who for \-cars had led a life of hardship and toil in the coal mines of England, and a " tender- 
foot " miner, who had but little experience, he applied to' them for work. " Yes, young mon, 
'ou want a job, do 'ou .' Well, if 'ou think 'ou con 'eep up with we, and don't bush before 
sundown, 'ou can peel that jacket and try we's on." Down into the hole went our young 
aspirant for gold, and, grasping the shovel and pick, he dealt the hard, dried earth strong and 
violent blows, which, for economy of his strength, were very unfavorable. His new-found 
mining friends rather enjoyed the situation, and tightening up their belts (which all Cornish- 
men wear when at work, loosening them at meal times), they went for the scalp of the young 
tenderfoot, working in the broiling sun, like "devils incarnate" at the furnaces in "Sheol." 
Our American hero, however, did not propose to be outdone by an Englishman, and, 
though his hands were soon blistered and his muscles had become inflamed and sore, he 
did fairly well in holding his own. The day was hot, and the blistering rays of the sun 
caused the perspiration to run in streams, yet old Sol, like the sun of Joshua, seemed to stand 
still over the Coast Range of mountains, and would never go down. Night came at last, 
and with the shades of darkness our young miner was dismissed with the promised five dol- 
lars for his labor and the gruff approval of the Cornishman that " 'ou did almost as much work 
as we, 'ou 'ill make a miner yet." This day's work was a dearly bought experience, but the 
thought came while recovering from the effects of his overtaxed strength, " Shall I become 
a day laborer and be only a 'hewer of wood and a drawer of water' for others, or shall I 
become master of my own labor.'' If I am not capable of planning and directing work for 
others I may as well know it now as at any time in the future." So the vow was made that 
thereafter he would hire his labor to no man, so that he coukl be his own master. After 
four years' work in the mines, he returned East and married Henrietta J., the youngest 
daughter of Hon. Alfred Topliff of Columbus, Wisconsin. By this marriage five children 
were born, of whom Charles N., Henrietta Ruth, Katiebel, and Rodney W. are now living, 
the youngest, Alfred T., c^'Ing in infancy. Removing from Wisconsin in November, i860, 
to Rochester, Minnesota, where he established himself in the banking business, he has 
always since continued in that line, by being connected with several financial institutions in 
the State of Minnesota. In the fall of 1862 a partnership was formed with Rodney Whiting, 
constituting the banking-house of Chadbourn & Whiting, which, five years later, at the 
death of Mr. Whiting, was succeeded by the banking-house of Chadbourn Brothers, and 
again succeeded in 1876 by the Rochester National Bank, with Charles H. Chadbourn as its 



176 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

first president. In 1887 he organized the Flour-City National Bank of Minneapolis, with 
five hundred thousand dollars capital, and became its first president. In 1889 the banking- 
house of C. H. Chadbourn & Son was established at Minneapolis, which continues at this 
time. 

In the long business career of the subject of this sketch in the banking business in 
Minnesota, at no time during the period of thirty years has any bank with which he was 
connected ever closed its doors or failed to pay its obligations on demand. Commencing 
with no ca[)ital, he has by industry, strict economy, and fair dealing amassed a comfortable 
fortune. He has always been careful about running into debt ; never gave a note that was 
not paid ; and never signed a mortgage, believing it a better policy to pay for property in 
full when purchasing it. He has always taken an active interest in political and religious 
work, being a member of the Congregational Church, and a Republican in politics, and a 
Prohibitionist from principle, believing that in the near future the whiskey traffic must "go." 
His temperance principles are well known in the Northwest, he being one of the few persons 
who never drank a single glass of strong liquor. He has travelled extensively with his 
family, in the United States and Europe, and has always enjoyed excellent health. Having 
been engaged in active business all his life, he would accept no political offices, as he had 
neither time nor inclination to attend to political duties. He has unbounded faith in the 
future growth and prosperity of the Northwest, and, in particular, of the twin cities of 
Minneapolis and St. Paul, the former being his adopted home for the future. 



ALEXANDER J. STONE, M. D. 

AMONG the many eminent men whose appearance in this volume has given character to 
the work, none have manifested a more appreciative regard for its success and ultimate 
achievement than the subject of this brief biography. It is due to the public to acknowl- 
edge that the editor of this work has been able only to obtain a meagre outline of the life 
of this most eminent physician and estimable citizen. The struggles of his early life, the 
toils of his educational years, the deferred hopes and cherished dreams of ambition, with all 
the good and atlverse fortune of manhood's career, — all of these vicissitudes of life were 
experiencctl by him, for they are the experience of all, and the common lot of every young 
man who aspires to eminence and usefulness in life. Professional life affords ainindant 
illustrations of the power of perseverance ; and perhaps no career is more instructive, 
viewed in this light, than that of a physician. The hill of sciei ce, especially that of medi- 
cine, is rough and uneven at the base, but it becomes more easy of ascent the higher the 
student advances upward. The professional training of Dr. Stone must have been most 
thorough, when a student, to enable him to attain the elevated position in his profession 
which he worthily enjoys. 

Dr. Stone is still in the prime of life, with a bright and promising future befoie iiim. 
His office and waiting-rooms arc usuall)- full of patients awaiting treatment, and his wlmle 




> 





d><-'^^,<=' 




■x^ 



THOMAS LOWRY. r;; 

life seems devoted to the relief of afflicted and suffering humanity. Dr. Stone is highly 

esteemed by his professional brethren, and has been elevated to the office of President of 
the INIedical Association of Minnesota. 

In closing the brief notice of this eminent physician, it is to be regretted that a full 

record, in detail, of his eventful life cannot be given to the public at this time. What is 
truly valuable and exemplary is worthy to be recorded. 



THOMAS LOWRY. 

THE account of the rise of a plucky, pushing Western boy, from the plains of poverty 
and obscurity to the mountain peak of wealth and position, is always interesting. 
Thit was the kind of a boy that came into the world down in Logan County, Illinois, on the 
27th of February, 1843. His parents named him Thomas Lowry. They lived in humble 
circumstances, and were able to give him no special educational advantages. Young Lowrv's 
first business venture was in the jeweller's trade. He afterwards switched off to the law, 
and it was as a lawyer that Minneapolis first knew him, back in the si.xties. He was poor as 
"Job's turkey." He did not confine his energies to the practice of his profession, but 
branched out into real-estate transactions, and finally abandoned the law entirely. He was 
associated in many of his deals with the Morrisons. He loaded up with Minneapolis dirt at 
a time when nobody thought it was worth anything, and showed his foresight by hanging on 
until the "boom " came and relieved him of the heavy loads he had been carrying, and gave 
him a boost on his climb to wealth. He possessed that peculiar faculty of business grit 
which carries everything before it. The Minneapolis Street-Railway Company had been 
eking out a forlorn sort of existence for some years when Mr. Lowry took hold of it and 
proceeded to develop it into one of the best paying pieces of property in the Northwest. 
He is best known as president and principal stockholder of the street-car company, and 
has furnished the city with the best service enjoyed by any city of its size in the country. 
He also secured a controlling interest in the St. Paul Street Railway. He has taken a hand 
in several large outside railroad projects, the " Soo " system among others. He is one of 
the most public-spirited citizens of Minneapolis. It was largely through his influence that 
the palatial West Hotel was built. He is a liberal contributor to good causes of all sorts. 
He has not had time to dabble much in politics, but is a thorough-going Republican. The 
only public office he ever held is that of member of the public-library board, he having 
contributed largely to the building fund. 

He married a daughter of Dr. Goodrich, and has a beautiful home, brightened by the 
presence of four children. In social as well as business circles, for his personal as well as 
his pecuniary worth, he is highly esteemed wherever known. 



178 



NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 



DAVID COOPER BELL. 

DAVID COOPER BELL was born June 22, 1841, in West Almond, Allegany County, 
in a liumble farm home among the hills of Western New York. He was the youngest 
of a family of four children, consisting of three boys and one-girl. He came, on his 
mother's side, of New-England stock, her father, Owen Cooper, having removed from New 
England to Washington County, New York, with his family of three sons and seven 
daughters, about the year 1820. 

He lived to complete a full century, having passed his one-hundredth birthday. 
On his father's side he comes of sturdy Scotch-Irish stock, of whom a not Scotch- 
Irishman cleverly said that when the potato crop failed they lived on the Shorter Catechism 
and the Sabbath. 

His grandfather, George Bell, was born near Belfast, Ireland, in 1776, married Margaret 
Buchanan in 1S02, and left their native land in 1812 for New York. The American vessel 
in which they sailed was captured by a British cruiser, and taken into Halifax, Nova Scotia. 
After two or three years' stay in the province, they removed to Hebron, Washington 
County, New York, whence ten years later, in a prairie schooner, they removed to Jeffer- 
son County in the same State, where he purchased a farm near Brownville, which was his 
home until his death in 1841. 

John Bell, the eldest son of George and Margaret Buchanan Bel', and father of the 
subject of this sketch, was born near Belfast, Ireland, July 26, 1807. His mother, a 
woman of great strength of character and remarkable piety, was a sister of John Buchanan, 
a distinguished officer in the British army. In 1S31 John and his brother James A. Bell 
bought a hundred-acre farm near the family home, paying for it by the joint product of their 
labors, John earning wages as a farmer, and James as a school-teacher. 

This school-teacher, James A. Bell, was afterwards for many years a distinguished 
member and presiding officer of the Senate of New-York State, also a member of the con- 
stitutional convention and auditor of the canal department. 

On January 20, 1S34, John Bell was married to Miss Sarah Cooper of Washington 
County, New York, after a courtship almost idyllic in its primitive simplicity. After four 
years spent on the farm near Brownville, where two sons, John E. and James E., were born 
to them, they removed to the adjoining village of Dexter, where a small home was built, 
and where, in 1839, their only daughter Sarah Elizabeth made her advent. 

Mr. Bell had inherited a deeply religious nature. Wherever he lived he was intelligently 
active in church work, and among the men with whom he walked he was regarded as a man 
of great purity of character, and of an upright and blameless life. 

In 1840 the family removed to the then new west of Allegany County, New York, 
where a timbered tract was purchased in the town of West Almond ; and the work of 
felling the trees and clearing a farm was resolutely entered upon. Here, on June 22, 1S41, 



DAVID COOPER BELL. i79 

the youngest son, David Cooper, was born. After scarcely a year of the hard labor and 
exposure of this pioneer life, the health of the father failed utterly, and the burden of the 
struggle fell upon the wife and mother, and bravely she bore it through many years. 

The local doctors were unable to bring any relief to the invalid. After two or three 
years of suffering and helplessness, — from the effects of inflammatory rheumatism, which had 
crippled his lower limbs, — hoping against hope, the mother started with her sick husband 
and little flock of children (the eldest scarcely ten years old) in quest of eminent physicians 
and healing waters, the fame of which had reached her, but from which she vainly looked 
for relief for her husband. A temporary sojourn at Rochester, New York, and two 
summers spent at Avon Springs, brought neither help nor hope, and they turned homcwanl 
to patiently abide God's time. 

In January, 1847, after nearly si.x years on a bed of suffering, John Bell entered into 
rest. During all these years he was upborne by a spirit of Christian patience and fortitude, 
and by an unwavering faith, in which he died. The widow took up the management of the 
farm, and the nurture of her now fatherless children, taking great care to provide for their 
schooling, and especially for their religious training. Some two or three years later she 
was again married to Mr. Thomas Richardson, who was the proprietor of an e.Ktensive boot 
and shoe manufactory in the neighboring town of Almond. To the new home in the village 
the family was moved, and here David, now a boy of eight, enjoyed the advantages of 
better schools. A year or two later, that the boys might be removed from the peculiar 
temptations of village life, the family again moved to a farm owned by Mr. Richardson, and 
nearly adjoining the Bell homestead. It proved a wise arrangement, for here the boys were 
taught habits of industry and self-reliance. David, now nine or ten years of age, was a 
hard-worked farmer's boy. 

Taken out of the summer school, he was kept at planting and hoeing, haying and har- 
vesting, driving the cows to pasture, helping in the milking, and making himself generally 

useful. 

The winter school to which he was privileged to go, walking with the other children 
over the hills to the little unpainted schoolhouse two miles away, often through deep snow- 
drifts, was his delight. The morning and evening chores kept the boy busy between school 
hours ; and frosted fingers and toes were not an uncommon experience. He had a great 
thirst for reading, and often walked miles to obtain books from the school-district library ; 
and it contained°few volumes that he did not read. Those were the days of spelling-school 
matches, and at the age of ten he had won the distinction of being the best speller in his 
school, and its champion in friendly contests with adjoining districts. 

In 1852 the family moved again to Almond Village, where the growing boy continued 
to make good progress in his studies under more favoring conditions, although his advan- 
tages in this respect were limited to the winter term of school. The summers were fully 
occupied with work on the small farm connected with the village home. An occasional day 
off to pick blackberries on joint account, and hunting and nutting expeditions with his 
companions, in which he did not escape bruises and broken bones, were his only vacations. 

The question of vocation now coming up, a day's employment in his stepfather's shop 
settled the fact that the boy was not intended for a shoemaker. His rising ambition to be 



i8o NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

a clerk in a store was gratified by an engagement with Deacon Ewers, in whose modest 
mercantile establishment he was the only employee. 

It was a great event in his life when, in the autumn of 1856, he left home for the first 
time to take a place in a city dry-goods store in Watortown, New York, where his eldest 
brother, John E., already held a responsible position. His salary was fifty dollars a year, 
which precluded extravagance in either board or clothing. 

His ways and dress betokened his country breeding. His attention being offensively 
called to this sensitive point by a city youth, he took occasion to demonstrate the superiority 
of country-trained muscle by administering a flogging to his tormentor. 

Before the year closed he was advanced to a salary of one hundred dollars, in addition 
to being boarded, which in those days was considered large pay for a boy. Meantime he 
had so far won the confidence of his employers that he was intrusted with a stock of goods 
to be taken to a neighboring town for sale. 

Not satisfied witli the meagre education which the country and village schools had 
afforded him, he determined to return home and continue his studies in the academy. 
Accordingly, in the spring of 1858, he entered the acailemic department of Alfred Univer- 
sity, near his home in Almond. 

Here he continued in school until the following winter, boarding in a club as a measure 
of economy, and paying his school expenses by working on a farm during the summer 
vacation, for which he received three dollars and a half a week. This was accounted good 
pay for a boy's services in haying and harvesting at that time. In November of that year 
his eldest brother, John E., who had two years before made liis way to the I'alls of 
St. Anthony, Minnesota, invited him to join him there. 

This David cheerfully did, making his way to that tliL-n remote region by rail, steam- 
boat, and stage. Here he found a situation in his brother's establishment, called by courtesy 
a dry-goods store, although boots and shoes, and hats and caps, as well as groceries and dry 
goods, contributed to the stock in trade. Although but a lad of seventeen, he had served 
an apprenticeship in a country store in his native village, and in a city store, and had 
besides acquired a knowledge of the German language, which, with his natural aptitude for 
business, made him a valuable clerk. 

Many of the older citizens of Minneapolis, men and women, recall the somewhat 
slender, blue-eyed, and curly-haired lad, who thirty years ago served the customers in J. E. 
Bell & Co.'s " The Regulator " store. It was a small wooden building on Bridge Square, 
opposite the present city hall ; the room not over twenty-five by thirty feet, and occupied 
upstairs as a dwelling. 

The young clerk won many friends and customers. He boarded in his brother's family, 
then occupying a small frame house standing on the corner of Third Street and First 
Avenue north, and surrounded by hazel brush, with no yard fence. 

At the breaking out of the War of the Rebellion in the spring of 1861, the young 
clerk had made himself so useful to his employers that he was admitted to a jjartnership in 
the busincs.s, although not yet twenty years of age. 

In the summer of 1862 the firm of Bell Brothers removed to the new stone store- 
building that had been erected for them on the corner of Washington and Nicollet Avenues. 



DAVID COOPER BELL. i8i 

Here they opened an exclusive dry-goods store, the most extensive of the kind in the young 
city, and continued for years to do a leading and prosperous retail business, to which a 
jobbing department was added. 

In the early part of 1868, owing to the failing health of the senior partner, Mr. John E. 
Bell, the firm disposed of the business, which was continued by their successors. 

In the year 1S62 the young merchant made a visit to his native county in New York, 
and took for his wife a young woman with whom he had attended school in the village and 
at the academy. October 14 of that year he was married to Lina, second daughter of 
Thomas J. and Rhoda Conklin, at the family home in Richburg, Allegany County, 
New York. 

The young couple came directly to Minneapolis, where they have since resided, wit- 
nessing and bearing an honorable and conspicuous part in the upbuilding of a great city 
from a frontier village. 

All these years they have been active members of Plymouth Congregational Church, 
their children walking in their ways. Whenever unquestioned integrity and fidelity, 
coupled with ability and sound judgment, have been especially in demand, his fellow- 
citizens have known where to look. 

Following the selling out of his dry -goods business, Mr. Bell spent several montlis in 
travel on the Pacific Coast. 

In the beginning of 1869 he formed a business alliance with Messrs. Godfrey Scheitlin 
and J. K. and H. G. Sidle, which a year later became the Minnesota Linseed Oil Company. 
This was the pioneer company in introducing in the Northwest the culture of flax and the 
manufacture of linseed oil, which are now among the important industries of the State. 
Mr. Bell was for many years president and treasurer of this corporation, and during this 
period was elected president of the W^estern Linseed Crushers' Association. 

In 1870 his brother organized the Hennepin-County Savings Bank of Minneapolis, of 
wliich Mr. Bell was elected vice-president and trustee, positions which he has since held. 

He was also on the first board of directors of the First National Bank of Minneapolis. 
Since 1884 Mr. Bell has been actively engaged as financial agent for eastern fiduciary institu- 
tions, investing the funds of many trusts and estates in Minneapolis, in which trusts his 
excellent business judgment and conservative spirit have been thoroughly tested and proven. 

In 1859 ^'^ w^s one of the charter members, and was for many years thereafter a 
director, of the Minneapolis Athenaeum Library Association. He has been a trustee of 
Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota, since 1869, and in that position has done much to 
promote the interests of tlie higher education in the Northwest. 

In 1874 he was elected one of the vice-presidents of the American Sunday-School 
Union of Philadelphia, an ofiSce which he has held continuously since that time, represent- 
ing with characteristic energy the interests of the society in Minnesota and in other States. 
He is also a corporate member of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign 
Missions. 

Although in no sense a politician, Mr. Bell has been actively identified with the Repub- 
lican party from its organization. In 1S84, and the years immediately following, when the 
very notable uprising occurred against the aggressions of the liquor interest, and in favor 



,83 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

of temperance, Mr. Bell was among the earliest and most effective promoters of the 
so-called anti-saloon Republican movement, and of the sweeping legislative reforms which 
speedily resulted in his own and other States. 

In the presidential campaign of iS6o he, with his fellow-clerk, Mr. J. A. Wolverton, 
raised across Bridge Square the first Lincoln and Hamlin banner in Minneapolis. It was 
a laro-e and elaborate canvas affair, with portraits of the candidates, and campaign mottoes. 

In the winter of 1860-61 lie went to Washington as the private secretary of Hon. 
Cyrus Aldrich, for many years member of Congress from the Second District of Minnesota. 
Here new phases of life were opened at the Capitol, during this stormy Congress, from 
which the representatives of seceding States were leaving for their homes preparatory to 
organizing for the War of the Rebellion. 

Mr. Bell was never a candidate for an elective public office, although he has served 
nearly six years on the State Board of Corrections and Charities, devoting mucli time and 
thought to the various correctional, charitable, and reformatory institutions of Minnesota. 
At the National Congress of Charities and Corrections, held at Washington in 1885, he 
was chosen vice-president of that body. In this most interesting and important field, of 
studying and caring for the dangerous and the defective classes, he has long felt an absorb- 
ing interest ; and his labors in this direction have been intelligent and greatly serviceable 
both to the State and the classes directly concerned. 

In the winter and spring of 1888-9, '^^'■- <'i»'^l ^f''S- Bell made an extended and long- 
projected journey to Egypt and Palestine, travelling through tlie Holy Land on horseback, 
with pleasant companions, and bringing back much valuable information as to Bible lands 
and peoples. They returned homeward by way of .'\sia Minor, Greece, and Italy, visiting 
also Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, France, and England, not omitting the World's Expo- 
sition in Paris. This tour, prosecuted under the most favorable auspices, had special value 
to Mr. Bell in his work as Bible-class teacher, giving him a personal acquaintance with 
scripture geography and the manners and customs of the " Land of the Book." 

That part of his life-work which, probably, Mr. Bell would himself most highly prize, 
certainly that by which he will be longest remembered, is his beneficent service to the young 
men of the community in which he has spent his mature life. 

This service has been rendered not only to young men as a class, but to the individuals 
of the class, and in ways as various as the needs of youth. It is a peculiarity of this form 
of lifelong usefulness that the record of it cannot be put down in figures or in chapters, but 
is wrought into the lives and characters of those who have been benefited and uplifted 
by it. 

As president for many years, and as an active member from its organization, of the 
Young Men's Christian Association of Minneapolis, and as teacher of the largest Bible- 
class of young men in the West, Mr. Bell has shown special tact and ability in his favorite 
field ; but his helpfulness as counsellor and friend to the thousands of struggling and often 
homeless young men and lads who have flocked to the prosperous Northwest to begin their 
active lives has been limited by no creed, denomination, or nationality. 

The friend who has edited the present sketch for these pages sums up Mr. Bell's char- 
acter and career in these pregnant words: — 




'%'%Sisr.s-:.._ ■ 







JAMES HARVEY TVTTLE. 183 

He is an admirable representative of the best type of American citizenship. Born amid 
the pinched conditions which characterized American farm life half a century ago, and sub- 
sequently unaided, except by self-reliance and upright character, he has achieved pecuniary 
competency, social position, and a wide and widening influence ; possessing most of the 
qualities that go to assure political success, he has never sought preferment, but has chosen 
to do his full duty as a citizen in private station, except when called by others to public 
service ; conspicuously generous and open-handed, he has acted upon the sound principle 
that that only is true'charity which helps others to help themselves; thoroughly hopeful as 
to the world's progress, he has formed his life upon the belief that even a moderate optimism 
is only justifiable when coupled with steady and intelligent effort toward the betterment 
of mankind. 



JAMES HARVEY TUTTLE. 

JAMES HARVEY TUTTLE was born in Salisbury, Herkimer County, New-York 
State, July 27, 1824. His parents were farmers. They gave hjm plenty of hard work, 
and as much education as they were able to give. He was sent early and until he was thir- 
teen to the district school, doing " chores " nights and mornings, and milking as many cows 
each day as he was years old. Then he spent a winter at a private school in Salisbury 
Corners, then two years at Fairfield Academy, nine miles from home, boarding himself and 
getting his supplies from his mother's kitchen. He prepared himself and had all the 
arrangements made for entering Harvard College ; but imperative circumstances thwarted 
this delightful plan, and he was obliged to accept the humbler advantages of two years in 
Clinton Liberal Institute, at Clinton, New York. This completed the help he received from 
schools, except the honors conferred upon him, many years later, of M.A., by Lombard 
University, of Galesburg, Illinois ; and later still, of D.D., by Buchtel College, of Akron, Ohio. 
He was hardly sixteen when he passed through important religious experiences. His 
father was a Universalist, and his mother a Baptist. Having been converted at a "pro- 
tracted meeting," and soon after immersed in Spruce Creek, on an exceedingly cold day in 
January, he united with his mother's church. The preaching in this church at that time and 
place being extremely Calvinistic and severe in its character, it fell on the young man's sensi- 
tive heart like coals of fire. It produced great mental sufferings for a while, and then it 
awakened alarming doubts ; finally, after the most fearful struggles, and the most earnest 
prayers, he felt compelled to abandon his mother's church and join his father's. This step, 
reluctantly taken, but practically unavoidable, gave bent to his future career, for it led him 
into the ministry. He was seized with such zeal and enthusiasm for his new and more liberal 
faith that he could not be content without determining at once to devote himself to its 
proclamation. He began to read and to study and to plan with this end in view ; and, 
although he has never for a moment regretted his choice of profession, he has lamented 
always that he took it up so early, in such haste, and with such meagre preparation. He 



i84 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

began to preach in the midst of his studies, and was not quite twenty when he strangely 
dared to accept a call for settlement, at Richfield Springs, Otsego County, Xew York. This 
settlement lasted for three years. Then he preached in various places near the Clinton 
Institute, taking his pulpit duties in one hand and his school duties in the other, and working 
both at a disadvantage. He dropped the school in 1848, and settled in I'-ulton, Oswego 
County, New York. This same year, he was married to Harriet K. Mcrriman. In 1853, he 
accepted a call from the First Universalist Society in Rochester, New York. He remained 
here until the fall of 1S59, when he went to the Second Universalist Society in Chicago, 
Illinois. In icS66, he moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and took charge of the First Univer- 
salist Churcli, now widel)- known in the denomination and throughout the Northwest, as the 
Church of the Redeemer. Here Mr. Tuttle has since remained, having completed, at the 
present date, July i, 1889, a pastorate of just twenty-three years; much the longest pastorate 
made by any clergyman now residing in the city. His last three pastorates cover a period, 
it will be noticed, of thirty-si.x years. His present congregation is large and influential. It 
has shown a deep, earnest, and lasting love for its pastor. Realizing the increasing burdens 
laid upon him by an increasing parish, it procured for him, five years ago, an assistant, Rev. 
L. D. Boyntou, who remained until three years ago, when Rev. Marion D. Shutter was called, 
and who is now the associate pastor. 



CADWALLADER GOLDEN WASHBURN. 

AMONG the men who came up from the old Atlantic States to found a new and nobler 
realm in the then lonely Northwest, none fills a more conspicuous and admirable 
place than Gov. C. C. Washburn, a grand and manly figure, transcendent in his qualities of 
mind and heart, and endowed with commanding personal traits. 

The ancestors of the Washburn family were of the brave old Pilgrim stock, and dwelt 
in the quiet little English village of Evesham, near the Avon, Shakespeare's river. When 
the days grew evil in England, John Washburn, secretary of the Plymouth colony in 
England, sailed across the sea to Massachusetts, where he married Patience, the daughter of 
Francis Cook, one of the passengers on the Mayflozvcr. They settled at Duxbury, one of 
the sea-shore towns of the Old Colony. In the direct line of his descendants came Israel 
Washburn, who was born in 1784, in the town of Raynham, near Taunton, in Bristol County, 
Massachusetts. In June, 1812, he married Martha Benjamin, the daughter of Lieut. Samuel 
Benjamin, a brave old soldier of the Re\'olution, who began his campaigning at the battle of 
Lexington, and remained in the service until after Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, not 
being out of active duty for a single day. After these many years of patriotic devotion, the 
veteran hero returned to his native region, and married Tabitha, the daughter of Nathaniel 
Livermorc, of Watertown, Massachusetts. The newly wedded couple settled in the hill-town 
of Livermore, near the Androscoggin River, in Maine ; and soon afterwards Israel 
Washburn, after experimenting at teaching, and ship-buiLtling on the Kennebec, came up here 
and founded a trading-post. 



CADWALLADER COLDEN WASHBURN. 185 

Israel Washburn and his wife had eleven children, ten of whom grew to maturity and 
married and had children of their own. Among these were Israel Washburn, governor of 
Maine in 1861-63; Elihu B. Washburn, sometime Secretary of State in Grant's Cabinet, and 
United-States Minister to France ; Charles A. Washburn, United-States Minister to Para- 
guay ; Samuel B. Washburn, a naval officer in the Secession War; William D. Washburn, 
surveyor-general of Minnesota ; and the subject of the present sketch. 

Cadvvallader Coldcn Washburn was born at Livermore, Androscoggin (then Oxford) 
County, Maine, on the 26th of April, 181S. He grew up amid the pure pastoral scenery of 
rural Maine, in complete sympathy with his surroundings, the meadows and rocks and 
ridges, the plain and honest New-England social life, the fair sunsets over the Oxford hills, 
the bright vistas of the much-winding Androscoggin. The memories of those early days 
were always dear and precious to him, and in long subsequent years, amid the toils of legis- 
lation, or where the bugles of the camjJs re-echoed from the Southern Alleghanies, he loved 
to recall his early experiences, and bring up the images of ancient friends and neighbors. 
Chief of all these well-remembered ones was his mother, to whom he attributed all that was 
worthy in his character, all that showed brightest in his visible achievements. 

The parish and neighborhood in which Governor Washburn was born and brought up, 
was distinguished for its strong Universalist spirit, and many of the leading citizens adhered 
to that faith. Among these adherents were the Washburn family, who attended the church 
as long as they remained at Livermore, and contributed liberally to its support. The 
Universalist church was built in 1S28, near the Norlands (as the Washburn homestead is 
called), and for over sixty years has been a conspicuous landmark for miles of surroundmg 
countr}'. 

The education of General Washburn, so far as text-books go, was limited to the teaching 
received at the district school, a few rods from his father's door. But greater than the works 
of the rustic pedagogue was the wise training given him by his parents, added to the fine 
nature inherited from them. When he had reached the age of eighteen, he went into a 
store and served for two or three years as a clerk. This experience was followed by a period 
of school-teaching down at Wiscasset, a bright little seaport on the Maine coast. Then 
came a time of service as a clerk in the post-office of Hallowell, on the Kennebec River, 
during which he gave earnest attention to the study of surveying. He also devoted some 
attention to reading law, under the direction of his uncle, Reuel Washburn, a lawyer living 
at Livermore. 

In 1839 Mr. Washburn bade farewell to the State of his birth, and sought the bi^oader 
opportunities of the undeveloped West. He taught school at Davenport, Iowa, and was 
engaged in David Dale Owen's geological survey of Iowa, at the same time carrying forward 
his law studies until he was admitted to the bar. Thus he speedily gained a sure foothold in 
the country of his adoption ; and in 1S40 he receiveil the appointment of surveyor of the 
county of Rock Island, in Illinois. Another move was made in 1S42, to Mineral Point, Wis- 
consin, where he devoted himself to the practice of law. Following this intricate science with 
unremitting diligence, he soon attained considerable distinction, and found himself favored 
with a large practice, both in law and in surveying. He formed a partnership with Cyrus 
Woodman, agent of tiie New-P'ngland Land Company, which lasted for over twenty years. 



1 86 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

Their business lay largely in the direction of clearing and establishing the new settlers' 
titles to their homes, an affair of much difficulty and transcendent importance to their clients. 
During a score of years spent in these pursuits, Mr. Washburn acquired a wide circle of 
acquaintances throughout Wisconsin, and the general regard for his ability and integrity 
compelled his entrance into public and political life. Entering public lands for settlers, 
locating Mexican- War land-warrants, and establishing the strong and always solvent Mineral- 
Point Bank, the two partners drifted naturally, and by easy stages, from law to finance, and 
broadened their acquaintance and opportunities. 

In 1855, Mr. Washburn was elected to Congress, where he served for three terms, in the 
Thirty-fourth, Thirty-fifth, and Thirty-si.xth Congresses (until March 30, i86i),and then declined 
a re-election. Mis Congressional career was marked by great sagacity of policy, and by a 
firm patriotic stand on all the great questions then agitating the country, on the eve of the 
terrible Secession War. 

At the outbreak of the war, Mr. Washburn entered the National army, and remained in 
active service until the close of hostilities. He began his military career as colonel of the 
Second Wisconsin Cavalry, a fine regiment which he had raised, and served with such efficiency 
that President Lincoln commissioned him as brigadier-general in June, 1862. The perilous 
Arkansas campaign of 1862 called forth Colonel Washburn's most strenuous efforts, and his 
achievements at the Tallahatchie, and in opening the Yazoo Pass, and at Grand Coteau, 
where his conspicuous valor saved Burbridge's entire division, were celebrated throughout 
the Arm)' of the West. In November, 1862, he became a major-general, and held as such 
an important command during the Vicksburg campaign. After the fall of Vicksburg, 
General Washburn was placed in command of the Thirteenth Cori)s, and ordered to active 
service in the Gulf States. At the head of these brave troops, he performed various bril- 
liant achievements along the Te.xan coast, and finally captured the strong casemated and 
ironclad works of Fort Esperanza, at Pass Cavallo, defending the approach to Matagorda 
Bay. After the long season of warfare on the Gulf coast, General Washburn went up to 
Memphis and succeeded Gen. Stephen A. Hurlburt, in command of the militar\- district of 
West Tennessee. He held this important post for nearly the entire time until the end of 
the war. After General Washburn had resigned his commission and returned to Wisconsin, 
he was elected again to Congress, where he served during the eventful epoch from 1867 to 
1 87 1, as a Republicanrepresentative of the Si.xth Wisconsin district. In November, 1871, 
General Washburn was elected governor of Wisconsin, a high and responsible office which 
he filled successfully for two years, 1872 and 1873. Finally retiring from public life. Governor 
Washburn devoted himself to the administration of his great and varied business affairs, 
which included the lumber-mills in connection with the extensive woodlands he had acquired 
before 1850; the water-power at St. Anthony's Falls, of which he was one of the largest 
owners ; and property to a considerable amount in the Minneapolis & St. Louis and other 
railroads. 

In 1876, Governor Washburn erected a huge flour-mil! at Minneapolis, carrying out 
several new ideas, and introducing, for the first time in America, the Hungarian process and 
the patent process. In 1878, this great building was destroyed by an explosion; but its 
indomitable founder reared on its site a new flour-mill, even larger and more ingenious. 



CAD]VALLADEK COLD EX IVASIIDi'RX. 187 

Governor Washburn always felt a deep interest in the University of Wisconsin, of which 
the Legislature made him a life regent, and from whose faculty he received the degree of 
LL.D. In 1878-S0, he erected the Washburn Observatory, at a cost of fifty thousand dol- 
lars, and gave it to the University, together with a full equipment of apparatus. He was 
also for several years president of the Wisconsin Historical Society. The great ruling ambi- 
tion of Governor Washburn's life was to do good in his day and generation ; and there are 
many beneficent and lasting monuments of his philanthropy in the great Northwest. 
Among these visible indications of his steady purpose arc the observatory at Madison ; the 
orphan asylum at Minneapolis; the library at La Crosse; and St. Regina's Academy, at 
Edgewood, near Madison. One of the most beautiful memorials of his munificence is the 
Washburn Home, a noble high-towered brick building, on a far-viewing hill-top three miles 
from Minneapolis. For this worthy philanthropy, he bequeathed so large a sum that after 
erecting the building, at a cost of $80,000, more than $340,000 remains as an endowment 
fund, which is sufficient to maintain a hundred children. The terms of the bequest indicate 
that " Any child under fourteen years of age, whether orphan or half-orphan, shall be recei.ed 
without any question or distinction as to age, se.\, race, color, or religion ; and shall be dis- 
charged at the age of fifteen." Just before making this noble endowment, he wrote as 
follows : — 

'■ I liave, in ilie last few days, made my last will and testament, realizing fully that I may be 
called suddenly away. I long have had tiie thought that I ought to do something for mankind before 
resigning up • this pleasing, anxious being.' I know that I cannot stay here long, and what I can do 
I desire to do, if possible, in my lifetime. In Minneapolis I have spent much of my lime, and have 
done something toward its development : I have seen it grow from notliing to its present large pro- 
portions. I wish to leave some memorial bciiind me of my devoted mother ; I have tiiought I 
could do no better than to establish ill her memory a home for orphan children; and I have, there- 
fore, provided in my will for such a foundation." 

\n the years of his young manhood. Governor Washburn held to the principles of the 
old Whig party, like his father and his brothers. When this political organization broke up, 
and new issues claimed the attention of the people, he became one of the earliest organizers 
and directing spirits of the Republican party, based on the grand idea of equal rights for all 
Americans, regardless of their color. His brother Israel was the first to suggest ami advo- 
cate the title of Republican, under which the party of freedom has won so many glorious 
victories. 

General Washburn married Miss Jeannettc Garr, of New York. Their children arc 
Jeannette, who married Mr. A. W. Kelsey, now of Philadelphia, and Lanny, who married 
Mr. Charles Payson, now of Washington, District of Columbia. 

Amid all the varied changes of his busy life, Governor Washburn has never been con- 
nected with any secret society or social order. 

During many years, Go\'ernor Washburn lived in the beautiful little city of Madison, 
the capital of Wisconsin, amid its girdle of blue lakes. From this point -he administered the 
affairs of his great lumber-mill at La Crosse ami the flotu-mills at Minneapolis, with equal 
skill and success. He spent long periods of time at Minneapolis, in full sympathy with its 
sturdy activities and its far-reaching enterprises. 



iS8 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 



ROSWELL P. RUSSELL. 

ROSWELI. P. RUSSELL, one of the oldest settlers in this county, was born at Richland, 
Vermont, March 15, 1820. At the age of thirteen he went to Biirlinj^ton, where he 
remained tliree years; then went to Michigan, and passed two years at Detroit anti Kalamazoo. 
He was a schoolmate of H. M. Rice, and both came to Michigan at the same time. Rice went 
to St. Louis, Missouri, where he engaged with McKenzie to go to Fort Snelling and take 
charge of the stock of goods taken there by Baker. Needing an assistant, Rice sent for 
Russell to accompany him. The journey to Prairie du Cliien was not difficult ; fiom there 
to La Crosse they came in a iMackinaw boat, but at the latter place the boat was frozen in, 
and they were obliged to pursue their journey on foot, but, being unused to walking, their 
distress was great. The second night out, they took possession of an old Indian farmer's 
place, he being absent, and in the morning purchased three pounds of pork of the mission- 
ary, for which they paid the modest sum of two dollars. They arrived at Port Snelling 
about the 5th of November, 1839, and he remained there until 1847, when he and I'indley 
made a claim on the east side, extending from Boom Island to the present stone-arch bridge, 
and back indefinitely ; two years after they sold this claim to Pierre Bottineau. In 1847, 
Mr. R. P. Russell opened the first store in St. Anthony, in a two-story building of hewn 
logs, erected by Franklin Steele. The dam was commenced about this time, and the work- 
men, together with a few French families, were Mr. Russell's customers. One and a half 
years later he went to St. Paul, but soon returned and continued his merchandise business 
until 1854, when he was appointed receiver in the land-office, which position he filled three 
years, a part of the time requiring four or five clerks, the business was so great. In the fall 
of 1858 he bought the hardware stock of Spear & Davison, which he sold two years later 
and turned his attention to farming until 1862, when he, in company with George Huy, 
erected a planing-mill ; in 1878 they added to the building and converted it into the flour- 
mill. He was also one of the firm who, in 1870, built the Dakota mill. Mr. Russell has 
been active in both public and private life ; has served one term in the Legislature, and often 
in town offices ; he was the first chairman of the town board, and holds that position at the 
present writing. October 3, 1848, his marriage occurred with Marion Patch. The children 
born to them are: Lucy, now Mrs. W. C. Colbrath ; Charles, in trade at Fargo, Dakota; 
Roswell, jun., book-keeper for B. F. Nelson (his wife was Caroline Beach) ; Mary, who is at 
home ; Carrie, now Mrs. Frank Lovejoy ; Fred and Frank, twins ; George B. McClellan, 
Willie and Eddie. 




(f^-(^t^I^^ 



WILLIAM S. KING. 189 



WILLIAM S. KING. 

THE subject of this sketch was born in Malone, Franklin County, New York, December 
16, 1828, and was one of a family of ten children. His father. Rev. Lyndon King, was 
a Methodist minister, and until his eighth year the boy shared the biennially changing for- 
tunes of the family of an itinerating minister. At this time the father settled down upon a 
small farm in Malone, where the boy was put to work with his elder brothers. Here he 
remained until his mother's death, four years later, when, the family being broken up and 
scattered, our subject started out for himself, finding employment on the farm and "driving 
team " in the summer, and " working for his board " and attending the district school in the 
winter. This life he followed until his eighteenth year, when he quit the farm and engaged 
in the fire-insurance business, which pursuit he followed until he came to Minnesota in the 
summer of 1858. 

For several years before going West, Colonel King — whose military title was acquired 
as a member of Major-General S. S. Burnside's staff of the Fifth Division of the New- York 
State Militia — had been connected more or less with several political papers. He had been 
an enthusiastic supporter of John P. Hale for President in 1853, and published a campaign 
paper at Cooperstown, New York, supporting the ■' Hale and Julian " ticket. In the spring 
of 1853 he organized the "Young Men's Republican Party" in Cherry Valley, New York, 
where he then resided, and nominated a full local ticket, a part of which was elected. This, 
Colonel King has often stated, was the first formal organization of the Republican partv, 
although others have claimed to have made the first or initial organization out of which 
came the creation on a broader basis of the present national Republican party. 

In the spring of 1859, Colonel King made his first venture in Minnesota journalism, and 
started the State Atlas, a weekly paper at the then small and frontier village of Minneapolis. 
Political excitement ran high and strong in those early days, and, in addition to the inten.se 
feeling which grew out of the discussion of the slavery question, to the exclusion of all ether 
national issues at that day, the people of Minnesota were in the midst of an earnest and 
wildly exciting debate on a measure which their last territorial Legislature had passed, 
authorizing the issue of five millions of bonds in aid of certain proposed land-grant railroads. 
Nearly or quite one half of the bonds so authorized had already been issued to the railroad 
company ; but, owing to the fierce and bitter opposition to such an issue, no sale for the 
bonds could be found in the Eastern money markets. Failing to negotiate the bonds else- 
where, the railroad companies and friends of the measure induced the State authorities to 
accept these non-marketable securities as a basis for a State currency which various banks 
began to put in circulation. This policy was most vigorously attacked by the original oppo- 
nents of the railroad-bond scheme, who were largely re-enforced by the more conservative 
financial men of the State, and in this opposition Colonel King and his State Atlas took the 
lead. Young, hot-headed, and enthusiastic, Colonel King led off in opposition to the further 
issue of bonds to the railroad companies or their reception by the State oflficials as security 



iro NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

for banking purposes with an intensity and vigor that soon made him the target of the 
supporters of " State credit," as they styled themselves, and resulted in a campaign mem- 
orable for the fierceness and bitterness with which it was conducted, and resulting 
in the overwhelming defeat of the party in power, which was, whether justly or unjustly, 
held responsible for the issuance of the bonds and their acceptance by the banking depart- 
ment as a basis for a currency issue. This contest brought Colonel King into general 
prominence throughout the State, and made him one of the most prominent and influential 
of the leaders of his party, among wliom his bold and aggressive character and policy 
always made him conspicuous. The trenchant and vigorous pen wielded by Colonel King 
made him of great service to his party during the stormy period from i860 to 1865 — in fact, 
from the beginning of the Rebellion to the close of the reconstruction measures adopted by 
Congress. 

From his earliest advent into Minneapolis, Colonel King was a firm and enthusiastic 
believer in the future greatness of that city, and, acting upon that belief, he has always 
been the earnest friend and supporter of every measure which had for its object its growth 
and welfare. In all matters of local improvement, and in suppoit of measures designed to 
build up and glorify Minneapolis, Colonel King has stood in the front rank of the earnest and 
public-spirited men who for a whole generation devoted their lives and much of their for- 
tunes to the upbuilding of the city in which they had made their homes. In establishing tlic 
"old fairgrounds," securing the location of " Lakewood Cemetery," founding the original 
"Minneapolis Harvester Works," inaugurating the Minneapolis Street Railway and Motor 
Railway systems, in his great efforts for the establishment of the iVIinneapolis Park system, 
and in many other important matters calculated to benefit and enrich Minneapolis, Colonel 
King has shown an efficiency of service and devotion to the city in which he lives to estab- 
lish a claim to good and useful citizenship not only upon the people of the present but for 
generations to come. 

In 1868, Colonel King began his purchase of land about Lakes Harriet and Calhoun, and 
established his world-renowned " Lyndale " herd of short-horn cattle, which became famous 
throughout the country, being admittedly the finest herd of that breed of cattle in the 
world. 

At the organization of the Thirty-seventh Congress — the first under Mr. Lincoln's 
administration — Colonel King was elected postmaster of the House of Representatives, 
which position, with the exception of the Thirty-ninth Congress, he held for twelve years. 
He was elected a member of the Forty-fourth Congress, at the close of which he retired 
almost wholly from active participation in political affairs. But few men enjoy a more wide 
and favorable acquaintance among the leading public men of all parties of the country than 
the subject of this sketch. 

In 1S75, Colonel King, having become embarrassed in his financial matters, placed his 
large landed estate in the hands of a trustee as security for the means with which to dis- 
charge his pecuniary obligations. The purposes of the trust having been fully accomplished. 
Colonel King called for a reconveyance of the residue remaining unappropriated. To this 
obviously just demand resistance was made by the trustee and his representatives. Out of 
this refusal came the famous " King-Remington" suit, which, after an obstinate contest in 




aie^^^ y/l 4Z^^^^^^ 



M. IV. LEWIS. 191 

the several courts of the State, lasting some three years, resulted in a decision in Colonel 
King's favor, and in the settlement of which some two millions of dollars was paid over by 
the defendants. 

Personally, Colonel King is a man of a large, warm, and generous heart, bold, frank, and 
outspoken on all subjects, independent and fearless in the advocacy of what he believes to 
be right, and always true, faithful, and sincere in his friendships. Ever animated by a high 
purpose and firm resolve, he has always been the unswerving champion of the best thought 
of his times. Himself the soul of honor, what he could not endure in others was duplicity 
and sham. Starting in life under all the deprivations which poverty brings in its trail, he 
has reached to honorable distinction among his fellow-citizens, rising to the exigencies of 
every situation in which he was placed, and, by the force of his own genius and the integrity 
of his character, vindicated his rightful claim to worthy leadership among men. With the 
record he has made, the name of William S. King will ever stand conspicuous in that list 
of early pioneers who not only laid the foundations of the States and cities in which they 
lived, but whose lives furnish honorable and illustrious examples of unselfish and noble 
citizenship. 



M. W. LEWIS. 



I 



T was a ma.xim of Dr. Young, the philosopher, that "Any man can do what any other 
man has done ; " and it is unquestionable that the subject of this brief sketch — M. W. 
Lewis — never recoiled from any trials to which he determined to subject himself. 

He was one of the first speculative operators in real estate, now so numerous through- 
out the Northwest. His commencement of life was humble, and beset with many adverse 
surroundings. He was gifted by nature with fine endowments, which he cultivated to the 
utmost. He possessed a genius for business of the highest order; being of sound under- 
standing and quick perception, and prompt to follow such line of action in business affairs as 
his judgment approved. Hence success usually attended his various enterprises. In every 
department of his business career it may be justly remarked, it was not the calling that 
elevated the man, but the man that elevated the calling. 

The spirit of self-help, as exhibited in the energetic action of M. W. Lewis, has 
been a marked feature in the pioneer character of the Northwest. All have worked 
together, building up the character of the country, and establishing its prosperity on solid 
foundations. 

The editor of the " Biographical History of the Northwest " has failed to obtain any 
reliable data for a full life sketch of this notable personage — M. W. Lewis— one of the 
most distinguished and prosperous pioneers of the State of Minnesota. 

It is much to be regretted that many eminent citizens fail to perceive or comprehend 
the practical utility of biographical history. Biographies of great, but especially of good 
men are, nevertheless, most instructive and useful, as helps, guides, and incentive^'s to 



192 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

others ; teaching high living, high thinking, and energetic action for their own and the 
world's good. 

The subject of this brief notice is an illustrious example — not only of steadfast in- 
tegrity, but of patient purpose and resolute working in the formation of truly noble and manly 
character. The influence of such a life and character passes unconsciously into the lives of 
others, and propagates good example for all time to come. 



TALLMAGE ELWELL. 

THE subjoined address written by Tall mage Elwell of Minnesota, some years prior to the 
admission of that territory into the Union as a State, presents some interesting features 
of the physical character of the country, and in some degree atones for the author's omis- 
sion to furnish suitable data for a full sketch of his pioneer life in the Northwest. 

Ladies .\nd Gentlemen, — I am here to talk to you of Minnesota, the land where you dwell, 
the home of your adoption. Its clear skies and invigorating, bracing atmosphere, its fertile prairies, 
its pleasant woodlands and majestic, mighty forests ; its glassy, numerous, and beautiful lakes ; its crystal 
meandering streams; its noble rivers, its inland sea; its mineral wealth; its flourishing towns and 
growing cities ; its enterprising, go-ahead population; its extended and munificent railroad system, 
and lastly its future destiny, when skill and capital, labor and science shall conspire to work into their 
highest forms the native elements now lying dormant in the soil, the forest, the air, and the mine. 
Let us glance briefly at some of the most prominent of these topics. 

First, then, the clear sky and bracing air of Minnesota are proverbial. The busy, cheerful, life- 
giving, energy-imparting, get-up>-in-the-morning, go-ahead atmosphere is all around, and forty miles 
deep at that. True, it is not all manufactured here, but it is as much our own as though it had never 
scathed an iceberg in the hyperborean regions of the North, or dallied with the flowers and wafted 
the perfumes of tropical climes in the South. When here it becomes a grand combination of the 
furious blasts of the Arctic regions with the sunny gales of the South, imparting the proper propor- 
tion of oxygen — the life-giving principle of the atmosphere to the blood — to consume the carbon, 
often supplied by excess in the food. But of what great use practically are clear skies and a bracing 
atmosphere, says some speculator on the probable downfall and smashing up of all things in the 
West. Well, let us look at this matter financially. Let us suppose data which I presume the experi- 
ence of every one coming from the East or South who has been here any considerable time would 
confess, viz. that there is here one-half less stormy days than there, and that fifty unpleasant, unbear- 
able stormy working days would be a fair average there, we still have a gain of twenty-five days for 
each laborer here, which, in a working population of five hundred thousand at a dollar per day, would 
give the snug sum of $12,500,000 per annum, which sum increased by the extra amount of labor 
superior health would enable the above number of workmen to perform, plus the doctors' bills of 
a like number in Indiana or southern Illinois, would give an aggregate of at least three times that 
amount, or $37,500,000, which would go a long way in buying favor even in Wall Street. These 
figures are an approximation to the practical value ot the climate in one respect alone. How vastly 







e/iZ^^^^-^^^^-^i 




TALL MAGE EL WELL. 193 

would the figures be swelled if animal labor and animal comfort and diminished liability to disease, 
and cost of keeping, were taken into the account ! 

But, says some croaker, while you are upon climate, what about the cold of winter, and the 
chances for raising corn in summer? 

Why, as to the first, we calculate to build for ourselves good houses, for our animals good barns 
or stables, to provide plenty of wood, to work with a will when we have occasion to labor, to dress 
warm, and drive fast horses with merry sleigh bells when we ride ; and in the aggregate to condense 
about five times as much enjoyment and business into the same time as ordinarily falls to the lot of 
mortals either East or South. We have the merry, merry sunshine even in our coldest weather, and 
that together with the dry and bracing atmosphere is sufficient to make residents gay and happy, 
comfortable and contented. And here it might be remarked that this climate seems peculiarly favor- 
able for those predisposed to pulmonary or lung difficulties, recovery following a residence in nearly 
all cases when disease is not too far advanced. 

As to the corn question, it has not been extensively cultivated as yet over a hundred miles 
north of St. Paul. It is to be presumed that soon it will be carried forward so as to wave on the 
banks of Red River. The average yield is rarely over seventy-five bushels or under forty, per acre. 
Commonly it ripens a little earlier than in Illinois. 

We will now take up another branch of our subject, namely, the soil of Minnesota. It is gen- 
erally understood, no doubt, that agriculture is one of tiie oldest, most honorable, and useful employ- 
ments of man, and that it furnishes the basis, the underlying stratum, upon which all prosperity rests, 
either individual or national. Without agriculture commerce ceases, the arts languish, cities decay, 
and man in his rudest state goes forth to war with the beasts of the forest for an uncertain, preca- 
rious subsistence. What, then, is the capacity of Minnesota to support a vigorous and highly remu- 
nerative system of agriculture, that shall give employment to its tens of thousands, and afford food 
for millions ? This question is already answered to the satisfaction of old residents, and the settlement 
of the State has progressed so far as to test the capacity of the soil in almost every separate degree 
of latitude and longitude embraced within our ample boundaries. What is the result? Everywhere 
agriculture is successful, eminently a paying institution, and susceptible of being carried to the highest 
degree of perfection, so far as climate and soil are concerned. Wheat may be set down at an average 
of from twenty to twenty-five bushels per acre, corn fifty, oats forty, potatoes two hundred, and roots 
and vines generally as fully equal to the best of any other clime or country. And here in speaking 
of the soil it may be well to allude to the distinct advantages which widely separated portions of the 
State seem to possess, in order that we may see how there still remain as good chances for emigrants 
and settlers as have yet been enjoyed by those who have come here at an early day. The opinion is 
sometimes expressed that it is too late in the day to make what would be called a strike in Minnesota, 
or, in other words, that the desirable chances are all taken. No mistake could be greater. As 
yet but a small portion of the State compared with the whole has been settled, and that portion 
so sparsely as to afford equally desirable locations for double or triple the population it now 
contains. 

Of that part of Minnesota lying east of the Mississippi River, and constituting perhaps one-third 
or one-fourth of the whole State, there still remains by far the largest, richest, and most desirable 
portion unoccupied. The speculators have as a general thing (thanks to a favoring fortune for actual 
settlers) secured the poorest instead of the best by taking the land contiguous to the river, and now much 
of the portion remaining is only subject to pre-emption, so that they are virtually excluded therefrom. 
One great feature of Minnesota wealth is mainly, although not entirely, confined to this section, namely, 
pine timber. It is the pineries of the St. Croix, Rum River, the Upper Mississippi, and their tribu- 



194 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

taries which have furnished and will still continue to furnish their millions of feet and almost of dol- 
lars, that have so materially enriched the countr}' and aided in its rapid development from year to 
year. But aside from the lumbering facilities of the country of which I am speaking, there are rich 
and inviting districts for the agriculturist. Everywhere his contiguity to the lumber interests insures 
to him the best of markets and of building facilities, while Iiis position often enables him to play 
the double part of lumberman and farmer, combining in the highest degree the profits of both 
branches. 

I regard almost every part of Minnesota with which I am familiar as peculiarly well adapted to 
settlement and improvement, and almost every remote locality seems to have its special advantages, 
sufficiently great to lure on the settler, until finally, from the shores of Superior and Itasca on the 
north to the Red River on the west, and thence east and south to the boundaries of Wisconsin and 
Iowa shall be a densely settled State full of enterprising, go-ahead people. And here let me suggest 
that the last-named qualifications in the people have as much to do with making a wealthy State as 
nearly all other natural causes put together. Of that country lying between the Mississippi and 
Minnesota Rivers and south of the Minnesota, much might be said, and a volume written without 
exhausting the subject. Indeed, it would be almost impossible to overestimate its real advantages 
or future wealth. Its natural commercial channels are two of the largest and most important rivers 
in the State, which, together with the projected lines of railroad that interpenetrate almost every 
part of the interior, will hasten its development and that prophetic time when the wilderness shall 
be made to bud and blossom as the rose. Hennepin County alone has a capacity for producing 
and an extent greater than the State of Delaware, and hence by comparison you may see how the 
ample domain of Minnesota, when her millions of acres shall cease to want hands, may rival in 
population and wealth a half dozen of the smaller States of the Union. 

Westward, it is said, the marcii of empire takes its way, and westward the people of the East 
will go, so long as better and cheaper lands, more pleasant and genial skies, and a surer road to 
affluence and comfort await them. Well, suppose in the good time coming many who hither flock 
shall conclude that the country of which I am speaking has been too much culled over, and that too 
many of the choice locations are gone. What then ? Why, forward march, and on to Red River 
and the extensive country watered by its tributaries. Chase the buffalo over the plain, tread quickly 
on the heels of the red men, and tell them that the progressive Yankee nation wants a little more 
room, and that they must seek repose and rest still nearer the setting sun. Already the advance 
guard of civilization is there, and men who are not afraid to put their shoulders to the wheel and lift 
mightily have given it a good many turns in the right direction. 

And here we have brought to light on the extreme Northwest another mighty channel for steam 
navigation, carrying us — if we choose to go beyond the boundaries of our own extended domain — 
into those of Britain's queen, and connecting us with Lake Winnipeg, a northwestern rival of Lake 
Erie. 

This country, sufficiently distant to be enchanting, sufficiently good to be inviting, and sufficiently 
inquired and sought after at present to afford an earnest of what it will be in the future, is of itself 
an empire that could give dignity to a kingly crown (if kingly crowns were not behind the age, and 
only memories to which we turn to trace the progress of the time and the race). 

Our own charms as a new State will probably soon be gone, and thus the way paved for the 
speedy organization of Dakota on the west, with the Red River as the boundary line between us. 
Then the thousands who prefer a territory to a State because it is a territory, must and will thither 
wend their way, and we in the future, instead of being on the frontier, will find ourselves the centre of 
a continent. But what, says some timid soul, — who already thinks the Falls of St. Anthony the verge 



TALLMAGE ELWELL. '95 

of civilization and settlement, - w.ll bring these things to pass ? Sir, it will be a number of grand and 
natural rauses combined. One will be the genius of our people, who are never satisfied until they 
have gone as far as mortals can go. This principle will carry them westward across the plains and 
northward to the Arctic regions, will scale the Rocky Mountains, will build forts and outposts 
towns and cities, construct railroads, and improve natural channels of commerce, and finally land 
them on the broad shores of the Pacific. 

Another mighty agency in bringing about the result will be the tendency and proclivities ot the 
iron horse He has got his head turned westward, and with fiery front is advancing, not to be satis- 
fied until he sniffs the breezes of the Pacific. From point to point he will thunder on and shriek 
for more latitude and space in which to try his unfailing power. The boundless continent must be 
free for him to roam, and the commerce of the world must to a great extent follow in his train, as 
with lic^htning speed he whizzes from the shores of ocean to ocean. The ne.xt thing that will strike 
upon o'ur ears in the way of railroad advancement will probably be an appropriation to continue the 
present line from a point at the navigable head-waters of the Red River of the North to Puget 
Sound on the Pacific. This will be a scheme worthy the genius of Uncle Sam and widely promotive 
of his extended prosperity. When this is done, where are you then, Mr. Croaker, at the Falls of St. 
\nthony? Take a map and a piece of tape and measure east and west, north and sou h, strike a 
circle bounded on every side by oceanic waters, and see how far from the centre stands the cataract 
whose music greets your ear as a great central continental anthem sung since the dawning of the .ys, 
in praise of the Architect of the universe. Where was ever a nobler or a fitter pa^an sung -grand as 
the eiernal harmonies and unfailing as the everlasting hills? But hark ! the cars are coming 
Which way, Mr. Conductor? -Morning train for the Pacific, evening train for New \ork, intersect 
at Brockei^ridge. Lines all in running order to Superior, Pembina, Chicago, and New Orleans. 
Here a -rand continental overture is played by the electric motor. The conductor cries, All aboard, 
and away you go at the rate of forty miles per hour, or stand lost in wonder and amazement at the 
onward march and high-pressure destiny of the mighty Northwest. , ^ , , , 

\bout this time all those judicious, prudent, careful, far-seeing settlers who have saved a few 
acres of land about the falls will begin to realize that it is something worth, and those croakers who 
have alwavs cried, property too high, too high, will begin to see that they have missed the golden 
opportunitv of enriching themselves and their posterity. But another reason for the rapid sett emen 
of the mi-hty West, aside from the genius of the people and its extended railroad system, is the fact 
that the countrv: itself is generally intrinsically good enough to warrant it, and, in the purposes of H„n 
who sees the end from the beginning, was doubtless intended as a home for c.vihzed and en ightened 
man That it must speedily become such is inevitable, demonstrated by the advancement of the pas 
and the wants of the future. 1 have already alluded to three of the most important rivers in and 
formin<^ boundary lines in part for a future wealthy State - the Mississippi, Minnesota, and Red River 
of the North Collectively they will give steamboat navigation within our own limits of from twelve 
to fifteen hundred miles, or nearly half the distance across the Atlantic. They are each noble rivers, 
and drain wide but contiguous districts of rich and inviting country. The two first already float a 
rich and increasing commerce upon their bosoms, and the time is rapidly hastening when the latter 
wi'u swell the inland fleet to a majestic greatness. Add to these the St. Croix, St. Louis, and James 
Rivers as second-class; the Rum, Zumbro, Cannon, Platte, and Straight Rivers together with a host of 
others as third and fourth class streams, and we shall find but few portions of country, especially 
in the West better supplied bv nature with navigation or pure and running water, often affordmg the 
most ample power for propelling machinery, thus creating natural places of business and importance 
when improved. The immense water power of the Mississippi at St. Anthony's Falls, Sauk kapids. 



196 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

Litile Falls and the Falls of Pokegama, together with that at St. Croix Falls, on the St. Croi.x, deserve 
something more than a passing notice. 

The I''alls of St. Anthony are already world-wide in their celebrity. Standing at the head and 
foot of navigation, as it were, on the mightiest river in the world, themselves forming a part of the 
most beautiful and enchanting scenery of the vast valley of the Mississippi, they are at once an object 
of interest to the ordinary beholder and of vast moment to the far-seeing, calculating man of business. 
They speak to him of material power illimitable, and anon a thousand wheels are put in motion. 
A thousand cranks are set to turning, and all the busy machinery of a large and growing city rises 
distinctly before him. Those who behold what is done already see but the beginning of what will 
surely be in the fuline. Little Falls and Si. Croix already boast of a partial improvement of their 
extensive water power, while at Sauk Rapids and Pokegama it still remains for capital to set the 
wheels in motion. 

Among the towns of the territory St. Paul occupies the first rank, St. Anthony and Miiuieapolis 
the second, Winona the third, Stillwater the fourth, Hastings the fifth, while a host of lesser note but 
vigorous promise line the banks of the Mississippi and Minnesota. The iidand sea of Minnesota is 
.Superior, lashing her northeastern shore, and, taking rank as the largest body of fresh water in the 
world, it claims, and by and by will have, a commercial importance of which we are now scarce aware. 
F.xtending westward four hundred miles farther than Chicago, it makes a bold stretch for the Pacific, 
and yet at the extreme west is but forty miles farther from Bufialo by water than ("hicago. That 
here is gradually arising one of the great commercial points of the West there can be no doubt. .\ 
locality rich in mines, in lumber, and in fisheries, with almost imrivalled commercial positioti, cannot 
fail to become one of vast importance. And here, that we are in the mineral region, let us take a 
glance at the copper. True, the weather is almost too cool to relish a descent into the mines where 
masses of ice are always found, and the thermometer rarely rises, even in the hottest weather, above 
forty degrees. And yet there is wealth down there almost untold, and one single mass loosened at 
one lime is now being divided up, estimated to be worth $200,000. 

Such gigantic enterprises cm only be carried forward by associated capital, and here, it seems, 
although meeting with discouragements at first, it is now reaping a rich reward. And here it might be 
remarked how great is the fitness and happy the adaptation of nearly all things in nature for promot- 
ing the welfare of man. Were this copper inland from one to five hundred miles, it must lie a long 
time in a new country before it could be developed and made subservient to the wealth and wants of 
man. Coal and salt mines are said to exist in the northwestern part of the present territory, but 
from which we shall soon be separated by the formation of a State. But if the mines are there, they 
will still remain ; and the forests of Minnesota afford all the varieties of hardwood timber usually 
found in the West, together with pine, spruce, and cedar in particular districts. Beech, chestnut, and 
hemlock, those common varieties of valu.able timber on poor lands, are entirely excluded from the 
list. The hardwood lands of Minnesota are proverbially rich, deep soils, while much that is covered 
with a scattering growth of pine and hard wood is valuable and pleasant for cultivation. It may be 
said, take the country together, that it is fairly well supplied with timber antl that the emigrant can 
generally have his choice of cither heavy limber, openings, or prairie, frequently combining all three. 
There arc no dangerous wild animals in the forests, although the bear and wolf are still found in many 
localities; while the sportive deer, the skipping fawn, and playful rabbit, together with many other 
varieties valued either for their meat or fur, abound. 

In the feathered department there is no lack, and the merry sportsman can try his skill upon the 
beautiful prairie chicken, canvas-back, geese, or pigeons. Or if in the angling mood lie has but to 
repair to the shores of some fish-abounding lake, and forthwith he is served and waited upon by 
mvriads of shining fins readv to become his victims. 




J<6^>7^/^<^ 




LEONARD DAY. \c)-j 

Having glanced thus imperfectly and ciirsorih- at what Minnesota is at present, — at her climate, 
soil, and productions, her rivers, lakes, towns, mines, and forests, — may we not reasonably ask any 
of her adopted sons or daughters if they are not justly proud of her advancement already as progress 
in the past or a brighter promise for the future? Where a more intelligent, enterprising, go-ahead 
population ? Where brighter skies and more genial dews and sunshine ? Where a more extended, 
munificent, and feasible railroad system ? Where a richer, nobler educational system ? In short, 
where a freer, happier, more prosperous people than those of Minnesota ? 



LEONARD DAY. 

THE subject of this brief notice — Leonard Day — was in some respects a remarkable 
character. Born and reared in humble life, his earthly career was a succession of strange 
events, blended with good and bad fortune. Me was one of the few "self-made" men who 
did not boast of his humble birthright ; nor think a man any worse, or believe iiim any 
better, for having sprung from obscure origin. At an early age he left the scenes of his 
youth and manhood, for the " Far West," where he hoped to elevate his condition above the 
common level of the struggling classes, to which the majority of humanity belongs. 

Few of the pioneers of Minnesota were more entitled to be called a self-made man or 
have been more honestly or industriously successful than the subject of this brief memoir. 
Leonard Day was a native of Leeds, Maine, born May 6, 1811 ; he died at Minneapolis, Feb- 
ruary 26, 1886. He was a son of a farmer, William Day, and Lucy, nee Thompson. His 
great-grandfather Day came from P^ngland at an early date and settled in ^L^ssachusetts, 
from whence the grandfather of our subject moved to Georgetown, Maine, where was born 
William Day, who afterwards removed to Leeds. The Thompsons were also from Eng- 
land, and settled at Monmouth, Maine, which was the birthplace of Lucy Thompson. The 
grandfather of Leonard was a soldier in the Continental army ; his father served in the war 
of 1812-15. 

The early years of Mr. Day were spent in working on the farm during the summer, and 
attending the common schools through the winter months. His educational facilities ended 
in those district schools, and they were covimon indeed, when compared with those of the 
present day. When eighteen years of age he engaged in lumbering and farming. In these 
branches of business he continued for twenty-five years, and they were long years of hard 
and rugged labor, such as but few outside of Maine can appreciate. In 1854 Mr. Day made 
up his mind that he had lived in Maine long enough ; and that there must be better oppor- 
tunities in the western country for attaining success for himself and family. He therefore 
came to Minneapolis, which was then but a small village. Here he at once engaged in 
lumbering, principally, but also opened a farm. In this business he continued up to the 
date of his death. Although at times, by means of high water and other causes incident to 
the lumber business, he lost largely, still by incessant toil and earnest, energetic attention to 



,f)8 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

business, being fortunately possessed of excellent business qualifications, he was enabled 
to obtain a handsome competence, and give his family a far better start in life than he had 
enjoyed. About the year 1870 he extended his field of action to include floiir-manufactur- 
in"-. He was the head of Leonard Day & Co., Leonard Day & Sons, and Day, Rollins & 
Co., all large and prominent firms, and doing an extensive business. All their logs were 
cut from their own lands, run down the Mississippi River and .sawed in their own mills, aver- 
aging from ten to twenty millions yearly. 

In politics Mr. Day was originally an old-line Whig, until the dissolution of that party, 
uhen he joined the Republican party, of which he continued a stanch supporter during 
the remainder of his life. In 1872, 1873, and 1874 he was chosen a member of the City 
Council, against his desires. He preferred to attend to his own private affairs rather than 
to bother with public office. May 10, 1832, Mr. Day was married at Wesley, Maine, to Miss 
Lois Averill, who died in Minneapolis, January 31, 1873, leaving six children. February 15. 
1874, Mr. Day was married the second time, in Minneapolis, to Miss L. Annette Robinson, 
by whom he had one child, Leonard Day, Jr. 

In all business affairs Leonard Day was strictly honest, among his acquaintances social 
in a high degree, and in his family an affectionate husband and father. In a word, Leonard 
Day was "a good man." 

The career of Mr. Day, as one of the leading pioneers of the Northwest, was through- 
out marked with great energy and application, uniting much piactical sagacity and first-rate 
business abilities. He was a man of iron mind and frame, and toiled unceasingly. His 
large interests in real estate, together with the elegant home mansion, which he has left to 
his heir.s, manifest his business capacity and indomitable energy. His life's experience is 
another illustration of the elasticity of American institutions ; another proof, that when the 
offspring of the wealthy, spoiled and enervated by over-indulgence, fail to grapple with 
grave duties and responsibilities, fitter material can always be found in the humbler walks, to 
recruit the energies of the nation from the sons of those who have been hardened in the 
stern school of necessity and toil ! Men like Leonard Day, though beloved and honored in 
their own circle, are rarely heard of in the great outside world ; and it is simple justice that 
they should not be wholly lost sight of in the loud rush and conflict of these busy times. 




kT^TTx^,^^-^^^^ 



D. D. MERRILL. 199 



D. D. MERRILL 

SINCE the introduction of the art of printing, about the middle of the fifteenth century, 
science and the arts have made rapid progress in everything that tends to refine, exalt, 
and ennoble humanity. 

Prior to this invention, bool^s were in manuscript, written on bark ; hence the Latin 
term, libei; which signifies a book, and also bark; hence our English word — library — ■ 
comes from the ancient practice of writing books on bark ! 

Papyrus, the leaf of a reed, was also anciently used on which to write ; hence the term 
— leaf of a book, as books were formerly made of real leaves. 

The famous Alexandrian Library in Egypt — destroyed by Julius Caesar twenty-six 
years before the Christian era — comprised 400,000 volumes in manuscript. A library of 
700,000 manuscript volumes was subsequerrtly founded at Alexandria ; which was fanatically 
destroyed by the Saracens, in 642. 

The facility with which books are now manufactured by the art of printing opens to 
the humblest citizen a storehouse of knowledge. 

In every city of the Union " book and printing establishments " are sending forth their 
treasures of mental wealth to enrich society. 

Prominent among these literary enterprises may be mentioned that of D. D. Merrill, 
of St. Paul, Minnesota, — an old pioneer establishment; and one of the most successful 
book and publishing houses in the Northwest. 

The shelves of his vast " book-concern " — located in St. Paul — are filled with volumes 
containing every shade of thought in literature, science, and art; manifesting the culture 
and refinement of his immediate patrons ; and also the high degree of intelligence of the 
people of the adjacent territory. 

The literary and scientific culture of the twin cities, St. Paul and Minneapolis, may chal- 
lenge a favorable comparison with any eastern city — not excepting even the "Plub" itself. 

In the East, the literary taste of society — like that of old age — is conservative, and 
somewhat in its dotage ; but a joyous, youthful spirit of literary life inspires the genius of 
the pioneer population of a new civilization. 

It is not easy to estimate the beneficial results arising from this vast collection of liter- 
ary and scientific wealth which Mr. Merrill has gathered in this locality. In his published 
text-books for the entire schools of the State, he is exerting a wide and benign influence in 
the educational development of the youthful mind. 

Though at the head of an extensive business establishment, Mr. Merrill finds time to 
keep informed of all passing events of the day ; to take an active part in city, State, and 
national politics; and to cultivate what is more genial to his ta:tes, — literature, science, 
and the arts. In all his past history, his frank, honest, candid, and prompt manner of busi- 
ness transactions has deservedly secured him the confidence and respect of the business 
workl of the Northwest. 



200 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 



CHARLES ALFRED PILLSBURY. 

CHARLES A. PILLSBURY is a typical representative of the modern business man. 
A few years ago it could be said with comparative truth that the most promising 
young men were attracted toward the learned professions, the arts, and military science. 
But within the memory of the living this tendency has changed. The ability and genius 
which a few years ago made conspicuous statesmen and military chieftains, is now very 
largely manifested in business enterprises. The practical has largely taken the place of the 
theoretical, and it is the man who can do, rather than the man who can talk, who is the 
modern hero. 

The business life of Charles A. Pillslnuy is really a history of modern milling. It 
marks the transformation from the grist-mill and the buhr-stone to the modern flour-mill, 
a transformation which has made the name of Charles A. Pillsbury a household word from 
the wheat-fields of the remotest frontier to nearly every part of the Old World. Bread is 
the staple of life, and the subject of this brief sketch has done more than any living man 
to revolutionize its manufacture and improve its quality. 

Charles A. Pillsbury was born at Warner, in Merrimac County, New Hampshire, Octo- 
ber 3, 1842, the oldest child of George Alfred Pillsbury and Margaret (Carleton) Pillsbury. 
His father, George A. Pillsbury, was a son of John Pillsbury, and a brother of ex-Governor 
John Sargent Pillsbury. The life of the latter is presented elsewhere in this volume, and 
in it may be found a Ijrief sketcli of the Pillsbury family and its ancestry. In no family. is 
the law of heredity more strongly marked than in the Pillsbury family. To his birth Mr. 
Pillsburv owes much for his menial endowments, but his business success has been purely 
personal. His education was obtained in the common schools of Concord, New Hampshire,, 
.with one year at Colby Academy, at New London, New Hampshire, and four years at 
Dartmouth College, where he graduated in the class of iS^j. He also shared in that disci- 
pline which has developed so many New-England men — that of teaching. Every winter 
of his college-course was spent in teaching, in order to help pay his way through college. 
He taught at Sanbornton Bridge, East Concord, Greenland, and Litchfield in his native State ; 
and here first manifested that quality which has been one of the elements of his success in 
after-life, namely, the ability to control and manage men. Immediately on graduating from 
college he went to Montreal, where he remained until the summer of 1869. Most of this 
time he worked as a clerk. He made it his motto to do his work and develop it as much as 
possible, and to make himself a necessity to his employers. He did as much work as possi- 
ble, and it was no uncommon thing for him to work all night, although he was only ex- 
pected to work the usual hours. In later years, when young men have asked his advice, it 
has been his frequent answer, "Make your services so valuable and necessary to your 
employer that he cannot afford to do without you." On September \2, 1866, he was mar- 
ried, by Rev. J. W. Ray, at Dunbarton, New Hampshire, to Mary A. Stinson.a daughter of 
Captain Charles Stinson. Captain Stinson was for many years one of the largest and wealth- 
iest farmers of New Hampshire, a leading anil influential man of his tlay, and of Scotch- 
Irish descent. 





^. 




On 



1; 



I 



I 



ill 



CHARLES ALFRED PILLSBURY. 201 

On coming to Minneapolis, in 1869, Mr. Pillsbury saw at a glance the possibilities 
which lay in the water-power of the Falls of St. Anthony. He at once purchased a frac- 
tional interest in a small flouring mill of eight run of stone. At that time there were four 
drfive small mills of the old-fashioned sort at the falls, but the business was practically dead ; 
the mill in which he purchased an interest had been idle some months before he obtained an 
interest in it, and the interest which he bought belonged to a non-resident who had taken 
it for a debt. At this time he was totally unacquainted with the milling business, but 
the mill was made a success from the start. His motto was always thoroughly to understand 
the details of everything he undertook, in its mechanical and practical bearings, as well as in 
its business relations. And in this connection, if the dix'crsion may be allowed, he has 
always made it a principle to learn something of every person with whom he came in contact, 
from the ordinary roustabout and mechanic up to the successful professional and business 
man. Of democratic tastes, friendly to all, he has always made it a point to acquire infor- 
mation of every man whom he-. has met, no matter what his occupation or station in life 
might be. As a result of this habit and his great industry he soon became thoroughly 
versed in all the departments of milling. Every detail was known to him. After running 
the mill for some years, he took into partnership with him his father, George A. Pillsbury, 
and his uncle, John S. Pillsbury, under the firm name of Charles A. Pillsbury & Co., and 
the property now known as the Pillsbury 13 mill was purchased. Soon afterwards the 
Empire mill and Excelsior mills were leased, and the Anchor mill purchased. 

During all of these )'ears he had managed these valuable mills and had built up a 
business, and the name of Pillsbury's flour was beginning to be quite extensively known. 
In the year 1880 the firm determined to build the largest and finest mill in the world. The 
subject of this sketch had already made himself thoroughly acquainted with all the mills of 
this country and understood practically the machinery used in the United States. He then 
went to Europe, examined the leading mills there, and went as far east as Buda-Pesth in 
Hungary to study the Hungarian methods. At this time the Hungarian flour brought the 
highest prices in the markets of the world. Mr. Pillsbury thoroughly mastered their 
processes ; and, after an absence of some months, returned to Minneapolis to proceed with 
the construction of the proposed mill. Instead of using the Hungarian system entirely (as 
did the builders of the W'ashburne and Christian mills), he only adopted for the new mill, 
now generally known as the Pillsbury A, the Hungarian system of disintegrating the wheat 
by iron rollers instead of by mill-stones, and retained American machinery for the other 
parts of the mill. And to-day (1890) the Pillsbury A mill is running with the same 
machinery as was originally put in, while the mills of others which were built with the 
Hungarian system have all been remodelled. The limits of this article will not admit of a 
description of the Pillsbury A mill. It is sufficient to say that it is by far the largest and 
best mill in the world, with a capacity of seven thousand barrels of flour a day (and it has 
a record of having made over seyen thousand barrels of flour a day). The Pillsbury B mill 
has a capacity of twenty-five hundred barrels of flour a day ; and the Anchor a daily capacity 
of fifteen hundred barrels. 

To say that Mr. Pillsbury has built up and successfully managed flour mills having a 
daily capacity of over eleven thousand barrels of flour a day, and that for m;ui\- \ears he hr.s 



202 



NOR TUWF.ST mOCRAmV. 



been at the head of the largest milling industry of the world, dcx;s not aderquately describe 
the magnitude of the business wliich he has tlone. The making of this immense quantity 
of breadstuffs requires not only the purchase and handling of wheat and its manufacture 
into flour, but when converted into flour it must be handled and disposed of properly. To 
facilitate the obtaining of wheat, Mr. Pillsbury very early organized a system of elevators 
extending throughout the best wheat regions of Minnesota and the Dakotas. The 
system is known as the Minneapolis & Northern I^lcvator System. To properly obtain 
the quantity of wheat required for the immense system of the Pillsbury mills, skil- 
fully grind it, and then dispose of the output sagaciously, requires tremendous business 
sagacity. Any one of these various branches of the business is an immense labor in itself, 
and is worthy the best business ability. But here Mr. Pillsbury shows his great head for 
business. His thorough knowledge of details, united with his mental grasp and business 
foresight, has made him master of all dei)artments. He not only saw the liome trade, but 
also the foreign markets, and immediately put his flour into active competition with that of 
all the mills of the world. To do this was no easy task, but the successful result is known 
to all, and as tlie American traveller walks the docks of the Old World he sees the .sacks of 
Pillsbur\'s flour unloaded, and is thrilled with pride at American industry and enterprise. 
And persons of every nationality wlio arc unacquainted with the names of American ofificials 
and statesmen are familiar with tlie name wliich stands at tlie head of this sketch. 

The imjirovements made in milling in Minneai^olis, and the development of the industry 
there, have made the rapid settlement of Minnesota and the Dakotas possible, and without 
this improvement and development such a rapid increase in population and wealth as these 
States have experienced would nut have been possible. Until these improvements were 
made, the Northwestern wheat sold at tiic bottom of the list ; since then, it has been sold 
at the top prices. If the old conditions had not been changed, the Northwest could never 
have been a large producer of wheat, because in the low ranges of prices that have existed 
since the enormous development of wheat-raising in India, Russia, and other parts of the 
w^orld, it would luwe been impossible for tlie Northwestern farmer to have competed in 
wheat-raising. The thousands of people who have grown rich and prosperous as a conse- 
quence of this development should not forget their obligation to the men who have made 
this development possible. 

In politics Mr. Pillsbury has been a Re'publican since he was old enough to vote. His 
business has been his work, but his sagacity and w-ise judgment as a legislator have been 
sought many times. For ten years, from January i, 1877, to January i, 1887, he was a mem- 
ber of the Minnesota State Senate. During all of this time he was the acknowdedged author- 
ity on finances, and for nine years he was chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. He 
was generally elected State Senator by a unanimous vote, but whenever he had a political 
opponent he was elected by an overwhelming majority. His position as chairman of the 
finance committee of the Senate, as well as his conceded financial ability, gave him charge 
of all financial measures in that bod\-, and dui'ing his chairmanship of that committee his 
recommendations were not in a single case overruled by the Senate. He also had charge of 
the bill for the settlement of the repudiated Minnesota railroad bonds, an account of which is 
contained elsewhere in this work, in the sketch of the life of his uncle, Governor John .S. 



! 



CHARLES ALFRED PILLSBURY. 203 

I'illsbury. In his legislative work the subject of these lines was active and energetic an.] in 
every way a leader. In 1886 he was unanimously nominated by the Republican party for the 
position of Mayor of Minneapolis, but he refused the honor; and, though often importuned 
to take political office, has steadfastly re.-fused. 

Mr. Pillsbury has been so much pressed with business that he has rigidly refused 
positions in matters outside his own concerns. He has been asked by nearly every bank in 
Minneapolis to become a director, but he has always refused to accept. 

In his personal habits Mr. Pillsbury is thoroughly domestic and democratic. His manner 
is as affable with a poor man as with a capitalist, and it is often noticed that he will take 
more pains to recognize a poor man than a rich one. Simplicity characterizes all his habits 
of life, and ostentation and display are irksome to him. He has been a regular attendant 
of the Congregational Church since his marriage, and for several years was president of the 
Board of Trustees of Plymouth Churcii of Minneapolis. For many years he has been one 
of the largest contributors in the denomination. 

One of Mr. Pillsbury's most prominent traits is his liberality. The Pillsbury family 
has ever been famous for this. There are but few men who have been his equals in 
generosity and benevolence and charitable affairs. His gifts are not confined to sectarian 
lines, but have been made with reference to the needs of the recipients. Most of his gifts 
have been quiet and unostentatious, and he has not let one hand know what the other hand 
did. In this same connection should be mentioned the system of profit-sharing which pre- 
vails in the Pillsbury system of mills, whereby each year the employees are given a per cent 
of the earnings. In one year the sum so distributed among the emplovees e.Kceeded forty 
thousand dollars. 

To close this article without speaking of Mr. Pillsbury's buoyancy of spirit, cordiality, 
and kindness of manner towards all, an ever present happy disposition and tender sympathy, 
would be to omit the qualities which endear him to all with whom he comes in contact. No 
man ever begrudged his prosperity, his employees have been his strongest allies, and the 
laboring man regards him as a personal friend. A most intense worker, he possesses the 
happy faculty of throwing off his business when mingling with his family and friends. 
Quick to reach a conclusion, alert to carry into effect all his business plans, untiring in 
energy and never discouraged, he nevertheless can throw off all his business cares and say 
a kind and encouraging word to a child or newsboy on the streets, and do an act of charity 
in the twinkling of an eye, or read with the enthusiasm of a boy who has never had a care 
the latest book of travel, biography, or history. To see him take from his well-selected 
library one of the last publications or fresh magazines and sit down and enjoy it for an 
hour, one would hardly believe he was looking at the largest and most successful flour 
manufacturer of the age. No one can doubt but that this capacity to lay aside his business 
cares and enjoy a book or draw out and impart information on all sorts of topics, with all 
sorts of people, whatever their rank or occupation, is one of the rarest sources of enjoyment 
with which a man can be endowed. 

His family consists of his wife and twin boys, John Sargent and Charles Stinson, who 
were born in December, 1878. 



204 AVRTinVEST BIOGRAPHY. 



JOHN DE LAITTRE. 

CHARLES DE LAITTRE was born at Castine, Maine, February 2, 1797, and on the 
9th of January, 1827, he married Rosalie Lcvalle Desisles, who was born August 9, 
1794, at Trenton (now Lamoine), Maine, They were both descended from French families 
that settled in Maine when the State was a province of France. Four children were born 
to this couple: Charles Louis, now a resident of ^Minneapolis ; John, the subject of this 
sketch ; Francis, and Mary Ann, the wife of William A. Jordan, of Minneapolis. Francis 
de Laittre enlisted in the United-States Navy during the Secession War, and served on 
the Brooklyn, taking part in the battles before Fort Fisher, and volunteering in the Suuapcc 
expedition. After the fall of Wilmington he was stricken with the fatal Southern fever, and 
died March 16, 1865, at the age of thirty-one. He rests in the beautiful National Cemetery 
at Wilmington. Ro.salie de Laittre died October 18, i860, and Charles de Laittre died 
April 16, 1872, and their graves are in the'family lot at Ellsworth, Maine. Mrs. De Laittre 
was well known in the country about Frenchman's 15ay as a refined and e.veniplary Christian 
lady. She had acquired a fine education, and devoted much of her early life to teaching 
school, riding horseback for many miles through the roadless wilderness, and gathering her 
pupils in little log schoolhouses. Charles de Laittre was for many years in the employ of 
Col. John Black, who had been sent out from England to manage the famous Bingham 
Purchase, a great tract of timbered land reaching the sea near Union River. Colonel Black 
built mills and ships, and founded the city of Ellsworth. De Laittre was a good penman 
and accountant, and became a superintendent of the new works of development, going into 
the pineries in winter to scale logs, and superintending the various lumbering operations. 
John de Laittre was born at Ellsworth March 5, 1832. In 1841 his father bought and 
moved to a farm two miles from the town, on the high ridge of Beachland, overlooking the 
sea and the mountains of Mount Desert ; and here for many years the family dwelt, blessed 
by the kind care of their hard-working but cheerful father, and the tender and wise teachings 
of their sainted mother. John de Laittre's boy life was that of thou.sands of farmer-boys of 
New England, with work on the farm in summer, and in winter attending for a few months 
the district school. The old dilapidated schoolhouse was colder inside than out, and the chil- 
dren's dinners, in pails or baskets under their desks, would sometimes be frozen when noon- 
time came. Each boy had a week appointed him when he should cut the green and frozen 
wood hauled by the farmers to the schoolhouse ; provide dry kindlings; and be at the house 
an hour before time and start the fires to try and warm the atmosphere a little. This would, 
in these days, be considered by children a hard chance to obtain a little knowledge, and yet 
they enjoyed it, and each spare moment was improved. Lessons had to be committed to 
memory, and the lads studied far into the night, trying to master sums in " Smith's Arith- 
metic." 

Young De Laittre was allowed one short term at the village high school ; and this, with 
the few months at the district school each winter, until he was eighteen years of age, com- 






d. 




JOHN DE L AUTRE. 20$ 

prised all the schooling his parents were able to give him. . . . During this time he was 
fond of reading books of history and travels, and it created a desire to see and know 
somethincr of the world. In a playful way he would say to his father, " I would not wear my 
life out on a New-England farm." One day in the early spring of 1S48 he said something 
like this to his father, when out in the fields at work. At the dinner-table his father 
repeated what he had said, and his mother, with a thoughtful look, replied, " I do not 
blame him, 'tis hard to tie a boy of spirit down to this hard life." This opened the 
way. He had long thought he would go to a neighboring town, where his mother was 
born and had many family relatives, many of whom obtained a living in the cod-fishery 
business. The father and his son drove over there, and, after consultation with a 
Captain -Smith, it was agreed the lad should be one of his crew that season, to take fish m 
the Bay of Fundy. It was a new e.xperience. For four years he followed this business — 
two years in the Bay of Fundv, harboring in inclement weather at the island of Grand 
Menan, belonging to the English. Often they were visited by the English cutters, but were 
never molested Sometimes when they were within three miles of the land and sighted a 
cutter they would make sail and get outside. They traded freely with the inhabitants, and 
they were always glad to have the Yankees come to them and purchase fresh bait, butter, 
e<^<^s etc The third year they sailed for the coast of Labrador, and obtained a load of fish. 
Th°e 'harbor where they lay for two months was in the Straits of Belle Isle, in fifty-four 
decrrees north latitude. This was an extremely interesting voyage. The vessel was of one 
hundred and fifty tons burden, with a crew of eleven. They lay for two months in a small 
close harbor, — called on the charts Broad Oar, —fastened to the adjacent ledges, and did 
their fishing in small boats. It was liglit all night, and one could read coarse print. The 
days were so long it was almost tiresome. When they slept they had to close the forecastle. 
In this country there are no trees or verdure of any kind, except a moss on the rocks. In 
the moss and crevices of the ledges there bloomed beautiful white and blue violets, almost 
under the disappearing snow. On July 4. <S50, they celebrated the day by abstaining from 
work and an excursion inland. They had thought that when opportunity offered they would 
scale the coast range of mountains, which all along tlie shore seemed to be almost one 
unbroken wall from two to three thousand feet in height. Starting early and climbing hard 
they finally had to give it up, for the farther they climbed the higher they loomed up beyond. 
Another fact of interest in these straits is the appearance after a northeast gale of hundreds 
of iceber-s A very large one was driven aground about two miles from the harbor, and lay 
there for^weeks. They visited-it in boats frequently, going as near as they dared to. Some- 
times, on calm days, when the sea was smooth, they rowed "out and filled the water-barrels 
from the streams of ice-cold and pure water pouring from its sides. 

Before the vessel left the harbor a heavy southeast storm drove the berg further ashore, 
and one stormy night, amid the howling of the winds, they heard it going to pieces on the 
coast, with a noise like thundering of artillery, and in the morning it had all disappeared, 
and the bay was filled with its remains, broken into thousands of prismatic forms. 

This coast is inhabited by Esquimaux Indians, who obtain their living principally by seai 
and salmon fisheries and trapping furs in winter. They are a very interesting people m their 
manners and customs, mode of living, travelling, etc. Their dog sledges are made of whale- 
bone. The kayaks (a sort of boat) are made of sealskin and whalebone. 



2o6 NORTHWEST BIOGR.irilV. 

On the leturn \oyage the vessel visited the Magdalen Islands, and they saw large 
quantities of herring taken there in seines. During the summer of 185 i De Laittre went fish- 
ing on the Grand Banks, off Newfoundland. This fishing-ground is in the direct route of the 
passenger steamers to Liverpool, and fishing-vessels are in great danger of being run down. 
Fog prevails to such an e.\tent that for weeks the sun is hidden from view. During this 
summer they all came near being lost. Hearing in the night a loud, muffled sound, they 
knew what it meant. All hands were aroused, bells rung, muskets fired, and a man stood 
ready to cut the cable at a moment's warning. While they breathlessly awaited, a black 
shadow loomed througli the fog, and they distinctly heard the lookout on board of the great 
steamer pass the word, " Hard anort." Then the fishermen knew that they had been dis- 
coveretl and were safe. Answering her helm, she swung and passed by safely, but too close 
for comfort. 

Returning from this fishing vovage in the fall of 1S51, De Laittre decided to go to sea 
the following winter. As he had been on the ocean for four summer seasons, engaged in 
the fisheries, he was a good sailor and hud then about dccideil (as so many boys had done 
before) that his would be a seafaring life. So in September, 1851, he shipped on board a 
brig of four hundred tons, sailing out of New York. In course of the winter's cruise she 
visited the Bermudas, Jacksonville, Barbadoes, and San Domingo, returning in IMarch, 1852, 
to New' York, with a load of coffee. Sailing again on a second cruise, she returned to Boston 
in the latter part of June. On this trip De Laittre kept the reckoning of the ship, studying 
navigation all that he could, and when the vessel passed Cape Cod his reckoning was but a 
few miles out of the way. 

Returning home, he had an opportunity to converse much with his mother as to his 
future course. At that time many people from Maine had gone to California. De Laittre 
had a friend and schoolmate who had gone out the xear [jrevious, and they had been in 
correspondence. During July and August, 1852, the young sailor had many consultations 
with his mother, who was his chief adviser. Finall)- one day he told her that he had come 
to the conclusion that he must do one of two things, viz., go to California and make a long 
stay, or go away again to sea. But, if the latter course was chosen, it would undoubtedly 
be his future profession, and he left the matter entirely with her and would be governed by 
her wishes. For several days the anxious mother considered the subject in all its bear- 
ings, for she knew her son would abide her decision. At length she said, after many prayers 
to God to decide aright, that she believed she saw her way clear, and that, hard as it was to 
have her son depart from her into a strange land, so far from home and friends, she had 
decided he might go to California. 

From that day preparations were begun for the departure, and on September 16, 1852, 
with a plain wardrobe put in complete order by the mother's hands, and a little Bible, — her 
gift, with her name in it, — he bade the family a long good-by. At the cntl of thirty-nvc 
years he can see his mother as if but yesterday, her heart almost breaking as she embraced 
him, saying, " Don't forget, John, wherever you are, always to be a good boy, and don't 
forget God." Sorrowful as he was at parting from all the dear ones at home, yet his heart 
was full of hope. There were in the party thirty-two persons from the county, all to sail 
on the same steamer, and only two of the number were married and over twenty-two }-ears 



JOHN DE LAITTRE. 207 

of age. On arriving in New York, tliey purchased tickets to Aspinwall via the opposition 
or Vanderbilt line, and on September 25 sailed. After an eight days' passage they arrived 
at Aspinwall. The town was full of people going and coming. All was wild with excite- 
ment. The Panama Railway had been commenced and was running out about fifteen miles 
to the Chagres River. Here they embarked on the native boats, as thickly as they could be 
ieated, in the broiling sun, and were poled up the stream against a strong current, it being 
the rainy season. 

After waiting at Gorgona for transportation by mule trains and donkeys, for which they 
had paid at Aspinwall, De Laittre became impatient and declared to some of the rest of the 
party that he would foot it across to Panama. It was impossible to get any satisfaction as 
to when the trains would come in, and there seemed to be nothing to do but wait. He had 
determined that he would wait there no longer; and, going around among his companions, he 
found two plucky fellows who said they would join in the tramp. The ne.\t morning, as soon 
as it was light, the three — none of them twenty years old — started to walk across the 
Isthmus of Darien. When the sun came up they were well on their wa)-. Each had a pack 
and revolver and a few sea-biscuits. At times the sun would almost melt the travellers, and 
in a few moments down would come the rain in torrents. The streams were swollen, and in 
the valleys and water-courses the mud was knee-deep. It was not long, however, "before 
they came to the mountains. They had no difficulty in keeping the trails, as they were well 
worn and had been in use for hundreds of years. Plodding along, tired and wet, and won- 
dering what would be the outcome of their rashness, and if they were on the right road to 
Panama, partaking of a hasty lunch at noon, passing several native villages, assailed by 
dogs, and frequently encountering dark and sullen looks of the native men, no one molested 
them and they cheerily tramped on. 

As darkness approached, they came to quite a river with such a swift-running current 
they could not ford it, and were at a loss what to do. Going up a short distance, they found 
a large tree that had fallen across the stream, and managed to get over. Soon afterward 
they saw a light glimmering through the trees, which proved to come from a native village. 
Their arrival was soon noised abroad. Making for the nearest hut, they entered uninvited, 
and, pulling a few dimes out of their pockets, they purchased some fruit, which, with the 
crackers, made their supper. Of course the Americans and natives could not understand a 
word each other said ; yet, when the travellers pointed westward and said Panama, their 
entertainers would nod their heads approvingly. By these signs they concluded that they 
were going in the right direction. Soon quiet was restored, and the members of the family 
climbed into the upper part of their hut and retired, leaving their guests on the ground 
below, taking turns watching, and too tired to sleep. Towards midnight the mountain air 
became chilly; and although rolled in blankets, and wet to the skin, they began to shiver 
and shake, and thought they had chills and fever. De Laittre gave each a few drops of 
brandy, and then they gathered up the brands and kindled the fire and endeavored to warm 
a little. Directly they heard a rumpus overhead, and down from aloft came a black-looking, 
naked negro, throwing the fire right and left and uttering all sorts of imprecations. He 
went back, and the Americans concluded that the smoke of the fire interfered with his sleep, 
there being no chimney. Again — it being so cold they could stand it no longer — they 



2o8 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

gathered up the brands and started the fire ; and again the master commenced an uproar 
and started down the pole, when one of the party grabbed him, and, pointing a revolver at his 
head, ordered him back. Then such a scrambling and howling arose as roused up the whole 
community ; and the perturbed guests, fearing further trouble, shouldered their packs and 
started. Soon the sky in the east lighted up, as it was near morning. The pilgrims had 
little trouble keeping the trail. They were fearful the natives would follow, but as they did 
not they concluded they were glad to get rid of their unwelcome guests. Occasionally buy- 
ing fruit and some bits of black bread, hard as flint, they kept diligently on the way. At 
midday they passed the watershed, and soon the streams commenced to run in the direction 
they were going, and they knew they were nearing the long-looked-for Pacific. At four I'.M., 
as they climbed a hill and rounded the top, behold! almost at their feet and distant about 
five miles lay the far-famed city of Panama, and its beautiful bay and islands. That was the 
most beautiful sight De Laittrc had ever seen, and he has never forgotten the prospect. 
Ships and steamers lay at anchor in the bay, and in the foreground stretched the ancient 
city, with its embattled walls, forts, and churches, surrounded on all sides by tropical verdure, 
its bay studded with emerald islands, and beyond it the grand Pacific Ocean. By night they 
were in the city, at a hotel, thoroughly tired, but exceeding proud of their achievement. It was 
fully a week before the rest of the party came across, and all were delighted to meet again. 
This trip across the Isthmus at that time, and under such circumstances, by three boys, two 
of whom had never been from home before, has always left an impression. 

In the city of Panama all was excitement, turmoil, and confusion. It was indeed a 
motley crowd. All nations were represented, and all were bent on reaching, by the best and 
readiest means, that goal of all their hopes, San Francisco. Tickets on the steamers were 
engaged weeks ahead. As soon as the Maine boys could do so, they purchased theirs, 
and although the steamer had been advertised to arrive as soon as they had crossed the 
Isthmus, they were obliged to stay there three weeks before they could get out of that 
pandemonium. The cholera was raging, and people were dying daily. One of the party, 
a middle-aged married man, was imprudent enough to overload his stomach with fruit and 
drink ice water, and almost immediately was taken with cramps and chills and in two hours 
died. It was a sad scene when his comrades took his body outside the walls and buried 
him in the night in the heretics' ground. They did not know whose turn would come next. 
De Laittre called his companions around him and impressed on them in the strongest manner 
possible that they should not drink ice water and should eat sparingly of fruit and keep in- 
doors during the heat of the day. By observing these rules there was no more sickness, and 
at last the joyful day came when they sailed out on the Pacific. 

The steamer put in at Acapuico for coal, and here the passengers had an opportunity 
to see a little of Mexican life. The Yankees were not in great favor then, as too short a 
time had elapsed since General Scott had invaded their capital city, and the very Land of 
Gold had formerly been part of their possession, and as a penalty for being conquered in the 
war Mexico had ceded this vast country. At last came the glad day when they sighted the 
Golden Gate and entered the Bay of San Francisco. Barring the difference in climate and 
surroundings, it was in appearance not unlike Panama, with the same strife and contention. 
Men of all nations were mingling in the sandy streets, elbowing each other in the marts ami 



JOHN DE LAITTRE. 26^ 

on the crowded wharves. The same struggling and selfish humanity appeared everywhere, all 
intent on the one great thing — gold, gold. On the sandy shores, on the rudely improvised 
wharves, on vacant lots, everywhere, were tons upon tons of all kinds of merchandise, in 
bales, boxes, and barrels, much of which had been shipped around Cape Morn regardless of 
the quantity or extent of the market. Ships' crews deserted for the mines, and goods of all 
kinds lay around promiscuously. 

De Laittre was anxious to find his schoolmate, with whom during the year past he had 
been corresponding ; and so, bidding his companions a long good-by, he left on a little 
steamer for Stockton. Arriving at Stockton the next morning, he soon found his way to 
the stage-oflfice and purcha.sed a ticket for North Branch, Calaveras County. The dis- 
tance was about forty miles. Up to this time no rain had fallen, and the dust was over 
everything as far as one could see ahead in crossing the San Joaquin Valley. He soon 
found his friend in his miner's cabin, and he related his experience in the year past. This 
was about November 12, 1S52. At that time there was great excitement in all the country 
around the rich new diggings that had been found at Murphy's Camp — a location on the 
headwaters of the Calaveras River, well up in the Sierra foot-hills. His friend had already 
been there, and, knowing De Laittre was coming, he had taken up a mining claim on a gulch 
near the newly discovered mines, and posted up the usual notices required by the mining 
laws of each locality^ which read something like this : — 

We, the undersigned, have taken this claim, extending from this notice to one below, being 200 
feet on this gulch, and intend to work the same when water comes. 

Signed Jno. G. Jordan, 

Jno. De Laittre. 

So that his name was registered as an owner of real estate in California before his arrival 
there, and the title was perfectly good against all claimants except Uncle Sam. Mining 
laws were made in each locality by the miners theinselves in mass meetings, and all these 
laws were respected by the courts ; and woe to all men who violated them. If, after the rains 
came and there was sufficient water to work a claim, no work was done for ten days, then 
the claim was forfeited, but until rains came the title remained good. 

Mr. Jordan, in the month of August when the discovery of gold was first noised abroad, 
had gone to Murphy's, located the claim, and put up a cloth tent on the adjacent hillside, 
leaving in it a few cooking utensils, a box of crackers, and a few other articles of miners' 
outfit, including picks and shovels. In a day or two, after getting rested, the two men 
started on foot for Murphy's — a tramp of thirty-five miles — to claim and take possession 
of the property. The day's tramp was a hard one. De Laittre had been for so many weeks 
on shipboard that he was not in good condition to climb the hills of California from daylight 
to dark. Yet they tramped on, weary and footsore. Soon after dark, as they rounded a hill, 
they saw welcome lights in the valley below and knew that they were near the journey's 
end. They soon came to the tent, and, as Jordan had predicted, they found the tent, tools, 
and supplies. He could hardly credit it, yet after he had lived in the mines a few months 
he readily saw the reason. After a cold lunch they spread blankets on the ground beneath 
the tent and were soon asleep. In the night they were awakened from sound slumber by 



210 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

water spattering through the tent and running clown the hill beneath their blankets. But 
what a plight they were in to go through a rainy season ! De Laittre had, when he landed 
in San Francisco, one hundred and fifty dollars left out of the three hundred taken from 
home. But it \ya<\ rapidly grown beautifully less. The stage fare was si.xteen dollars. He 
paid for a pair of mining boots (worth in tlie States two dollars and a half) si.xteen dollars ; 
for an oilcloth coat twelve dollars ; and such fabulous prices were fast exhausting the little 
.store of money. 

Jordan, in his year's stay in the mines, had made nothing and had little more mone\' 
than his new partner. But they had what is far better than money — stout hearts and lots 
of pluck. No one who has not experienced it can have any conception of a rainy season in 
California. The heavens are literally opened, and it is one steady downpour. They lay in 
the tent and fastened oilcloth coats over their heads to keep the rain from their faces. 
Eating crackers and drinking water for lunches, laughing and talking of home, that night 
they slept cuddled up under the blankets, the rain steadily pouring. Sunday and Sunday 
night were the same. They knew they had to construct a log cabin and prepare for winter, 
but they would not begin work on Sunday, so they lay in their tent three nights and two 
days. On Monday they commenced work in the rain, for when it once commences it rarely 
ceases until the ground is thoroughly drenched and the streams are swollen to the utmost. The 
first thing was to fell the pine-trees near the claim, cutting them into logs twelve feet long, 
and raising them on each other, making the walls of logs about four feet in height. From 
a little steam sawmill not faraway they bought a few cull boards, and paid at the rate of one 
hundred and twenty-five dollars per thousand feet for the roof. The next item of construc- 
tion was a chimney — the fireplace part made of fiat stones, and the upper part of sticks, 
with mud for mortar. It rained so hard that the mortar became so thin that the chimney 
would not stand up. At last they hit upon the happy expedient of kindling a fire and dry- 
ing the mud as fast as it was laid. Finally they succeeded, and in two or three days they 
had a comfortable cabin. 

They had made what is termed by miners a "Tom," and two lengths of sluices, each 
sixteen feet long, and constructed a dam, on the claim. Raising the water at the dam, it ran 
in a small ditch for about a hundred feet, then through the sluices, and finally through the 
Tom. One of them picked and shovelled the dirt from the bed of the gulch and threw it 
into the sluices, while the other attended the Tom and forked out the small stones and rocks, 
the sand and gold finding its way through the holes punched in the iron bottom of the Tom 
into the "riffle box " beneath. In this latter was quicksilver, which retained the gold. The 
claim did not prove a very rich one. Each evening, at the close of a hard day's work, 
Jordan, who was skilled in placer-mining, cleaned out the riffle-box, putting it into a pan, and 
by a peculiar process of manipulating the pan in a pool of water would get rid of all the 
sand and impurities, leaving the shining particles of gold in the pan. While he was thus 
engaged De Laittre remained at the cabin, starting a fire and cooking a frugal supper. The 
proudest day of his life was when they had finished supper and dried and weighed the little 
gold dust (about eight dollars' worth), the result of the first day's work. They were, of 
course, wet to the skin (for the rain never ceased), yet by a good fire they partly dried their 
clothes, and when they retired to their hard bunks they felt softer than any beds of down. 



JOHN DE LAITTRE. 211 

There is something about a miner's life, a certain buoyant, hopeful feeling, a constant 
hoping, a certain something that cannot be explained. The beautiful Sierras are the last 
resting-place of many a miner who has died far from home and relatives, and up to the last 
has been hopeful of ultimate success. 

The history of one day during that rainy season is the history of all. All old Californi- 
ans will remember the rainy winter of 1852-53, when there was scarcely any cessation of rain 
for nearly three months. For three weeks they were entirely cut off from communication 
with the outer world. The last news reported both Stockton and Sacramento to be under 
water and the San Joaquin Valley entirely inundated. Provisions had to be boated for over 
thirty miles across this valley to the foot-hills, where they could be reached by pack-horses 
and donkeys, for there was no such thing as using teams and wagons. The streams were 
swollen so that wagons could not ford them, and oftentimes in swimming them with pack- 
horses, all would be swept away. Of course, there were no mails or news of any kind. 
The only anxiety in the mines was to keep from starving. The small stock of provisions in 
all the mining regions was soon exhausted, and everything that would sustain life rose to 
fabulous prices. In a memorandum-book now in De Laittre's possession the following items 
are noted, being prices paid in November and December, 1853. Butter, 75c. per pound ; 
nails, 25c.; lard, 55c.; potatoes, 40c.; beef, 60c.; candles, 60c.; a loaf of bread, 50c.; 
syrup, $2 a gallon ; bar soap, 40c. ; rice, 40c. In January and February all articles of food 
were a dollar per pound, and fortunate indeed was he who could get enough to eat. Starvation 
stared many in the face. It was not because of a lack of means to buy, for gold was plenty, 
and the merchants did all they could to dole out their goods, and would trust them out too ; 
but the question with them was where to get more. No one could buy more than a few 
pounds of anything to sustain life, for the traders would not sell. Rough miners became 
kind and considerate. They would share a meal with a hungry companion, and go his bond 
to a man they had never seen before. 

The claim did not remunerate the two workers largely, although at night, after a hard 
and wet day's work, they would pan out eight and ten dollars, sometimes as high as an ounce 
(^16). By Christmas their funds had gradually disappeared. De Laittre had twenty dollars 
left, and his partner about the same. Tiie outlook was dark. It seemed impossible to pull 
through the winter. It had been raining then four weeks or more. Men all about were 
getting discouraged, and provisions were growing scarcer daily, and none coming in. It was 
plain that some must leave or all woultl starve. ]\Iany were acting on this theory and had 
left the mines, trying to work their way to the coast. De Laittre's thoughts turned instinct- 
ively to the ocean. Fart of his life had been spent on its boisterous bosom, and although 
his fare had at times been coarse, yet he had always had enough, and he reasoned that if he 
could only get to San Francisco he would ship and take up the seafaring life again. During 
this trying time he had never a thought of going back home. He had left it to go out into the 
world and make his own way, and if he did not succeed in the mines of California it was no 
reason why he should not do so somewhere else. Just over the hill was a small steam saw- 
mill owned by some Eastern man. It had become noised around the mining camp that the 
owner of the mill had laid in a good supply of provisions in the fall and had enough to carry him 
through until spring. The day after Christmas De Laittre walked over to the mill and saw a 



2! 2 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

man was outside at the slip, carrying away lumber. Inquiring for the owner, he replied that he 
was the man. De Laittre said that he wanted work, and thought he had better go in where it 
was dry and let him do the work. They then entered into conversation, and he, finding the 
new-comer was a State-of-Maine boy, like himself, seemed to feel an interest, and took him 
into his employ at once. This gentleman proved to be a good friend. His name is S. B. 
Oilman of Bangor, Maine, — a man well known, and wherever known his word is good as his 
bond. He gave his now employee a thorough business training. The law with him (as 
unalterable as the laws of the Mcdos and Persians) was to keep his word always. 

De Laittre entcreil his employ in December, 1852, tugging away at the heavy green 
lumber as it came out of tlic mill, and continued witli him luitil he sold his mill and returned 
home, by which time he had become his head clerk and chief manager. This was in 1854. 
When he sold out, the parties who purchased were not familiar with the business, and Mr. 
Oilman said to them that he would sell his manager with the property, and he would guarantee 
he would manage as well as he could. So they negotiated with him at two thousand dollars 
per annum. This mill was afterwards moved twice, and had in seven and a half years four 
different owners. Each one, before purchasing, closed a contract with the manager. He liked 
the business and was ambitious to earn something, and in the seven and a half years laid uji 
several thousand dollars. As his funds accumulated, he loaned them out, getting the usual 
rate of two and a half per cent per month. At one time his interest income was almost 
as much as his salary. 

Mr. Oilman kept his mill running night and day all through the winter — he could not 
supply the demand for lumber. It was sold at twehe and a half cents per foot. He had 
a fair supply of provisions, but for fear of the suppl)- giving out he kept his brother busy 
during January and February in packing flour from Columbia, fifteen miles away, and swim- 
ming the Stanislaus River in a foaming torrent, with a fifty-pound sack on each side of the 
horse and the rider holding on to the faithful animals tail. There were forty men in the 
crew, and nearly all the fiour and beans they had (and this was almost their entire living) 
was carried across the river in that way. 

But when spring and sun and flowers came, all their hardships were forgotten. When 
the rains ceased and the waters dried up, and communication was opened up again with the 
coast cities, then they got letters and news from home. In January, De Laittre gave his 
name to the Adams E.xpress Company to get letters out of the post-oflfice in Stockton, for this 
is where he said when he left home to address letters. For a long time none came. At 
last one day he got, through the e.xpress company, a package containing eight letters, soaking 
wet from the carrier having to swim so many streams. The bill was a half ounce of gold 
dust, or one dollar each, yet had it been one hundred dollars, he would have paid it. 

This winter in the mines of California was the most eventful of his life. Nothing since 
that time has seemed like a hardship. One can hardly realize it now, in this land of plenty. 
During this winter, reports had come at various times of discoveries made by one Dowd, a 
hunter, who was employed by the company to hunt for game (principally venison) to feed the 
men. He was a very eccentric man, and the men were at times disinclined to believe his 
stories. He came into camp one Saturday night, in the latter part of February, and told 
them of some immense trees he had discovered during his tramp that week. The sturdy 



JOIIX DE LAITTRE. rij 

old hunter was nettled at the laughter ot his auditors, and said he would take a string with 
him and if he came across them again lie would measure them. A few weeks later, after a 
return from a week's hunt, he pulled a string out of his pocket, saying that he had found 
that grove of trees again, that there were about a hundred of them in a valley by themselves, 
away up in the headwaters of the Calaveras River, and that he had measured one of the 
largest and up as high as he could reach. The length of the string was the circumference, 
almost a hundred feet. So one pleasant Sunday in May, 1853, eight men — De Laittre 
being one — started to find what in later years has been called the eighth wonder of the 
world. All were mountetl and had blankets and provisions. They rode all day, being gov- 
erned by the guide, who- only went by the lay of the land and mountain peaks in the distance. 
All at once the old hunter swung up his hat, and shouted as they came over the brink of a 
hill, and pointed towards the fast-setting sun ; and there in a beautiful valley at their feet were 
the immense tops, towering high above all their surrounding companions. Hurrying down 
into the valley, they saw for the first time the trees that have been visited since bv 
hundreds of thousands of people — the magnificent Washingtonia Giganteas of California. 

That night they slept beneath them, and, with the exception of Dowd, they were the first 
white men who ever saw them. During De Laittre's fourteen years' stay in California he 
grew familiar with their history, visiting tiicm often and knowing intimately all of the owners. 
He attended many a party there and danced on the stump remaining of the one that was 
cut down, the bark of which was exhibited in New York and Paris. One of iiis employers 
— Captain Ilanford, a very enteriirising man — ^conceived the idea of taking oi'f the bark. 
He did so at great e.vpense and transported it to San Francisco and thence to New York, 
around Cape Horn. But it proved a poor speculation, as most people called it a Yankee 
trick, and no one believed it to be the bark of a single tree. 

During these years the young adventurer saw many exciting scenes, especially when 
the miners wrought the fearful decrees of lynch law upon the gamblers and miscreants 
who visited the camp. But there were many true and noble men among his comrades and 
associates, and some of these friendships he retains to this day. One of the best of 
these was William S. Whitman, a graduate of the Bangor High School, and then acting as 
engineer for Mr. Oilman. He had served his time at the machine-shop and foundry of 
Muzzy & Co., one of the best known fiims of Eastern Maine, and now dwells at Bangor, at 
the head of the Muzzy Iron and Machine Company. It was a pleasure to young De Laittre 
to visit Whitman evenings and read and discuss the magazines and papers which came there 
regularly; and finall)', the two men built for their home a snug ten-by-twelve cabin, with a 
fireplace, a desk, and a bunk for each. Here they spent many happy days and evenings, 
reading aloud, taking turns at the desk, writing home, and then going off to sleep, lulled by 
the pattering of the rain on the roof. 

In February, 1854, water was introduced into the mining camp, to the joy of the 
miners. The canal started from the Stanislaus River and ran forty-five miles. After the 
unusually rainy season of 1852 and 1853 the other extreme of drought set in, and many claims 
lay idle for want of water. When the company succeeded at last, and the clear waters of 
the Stanislaus were brought in the canal and turned over the divide or ridge forming the 
watershed between the Stanislaus and Calaveras Rivers, great was the joy of the people. 



214 NORTHWEST PfOGRArilV. 

Murphy's was extremely rich in gold and had attracted a large population. It nestled in a 
small valley surrounded by high mountains, and near the snow line. The location and sur- 
roundings were exceedingly i)ictiiresciuc. Oftentimes in winter, when it rained in the valley 
the snow lay on the mountains to the eastward and northward, not two miles awav, and 
about a thousand feet higher. The line was distinctly drawn around the village — all above 
white and glistening, and all below green and beautiful. When the sun rose it quickly disap- 
peared. Occasionally snow invaded the valley, and once six or eight inches came, and the 
New-England boys improvised sleighs and rode through the streets, and the whole population 
pelted each other with snowballs. The altitude was twenty-five hundred feet above tlie 
ocean, and the Big Trees were fifteen miles distant and two thousand feet above us. 

De Laittre's life was a busy one. New and ricli placers were being daily discovered, and 
mining camps were springing up all about, and lliey looked to the mill at Murphy's to supply 
them with lumber. The little mil! was kept busy night and day for more than two years, 
and became a most profitable enterprise for it.s proprietors. Lumber was sold at the mill at 
a hundred and twenty-five dollars per thousand feet, and the slabs as thev came from the 
log were taken by the miners at fifty cents each. There was so mueli strife for these slabs 
that Mr. Oilman told tlie miners he would not save them for any one — first come, first 
served. So the different companies each kept a man on the watch nights, and as fast as a 
slab came from tlie saw he would seize it and stay by his pile of slabs until morning. 

It was but a few years before the hills were stripped bare of timber. Between the logs 
used at the mill and the demands of the miners, the timber quickly disappeared. In 1856 
the mill had to be moved about eight miles farther into the mountains, it being easier to 
move the mill and haul the manufactured lumber to the yards in town than to undertake to 
haul logs that distance. The pines in the Sierras are beautiful trees, tall, straight, and large, 
and scarcely one in a thousand defective. One could drive for miles in these pine forests 
with a horse and carriage. There is not a particle of undergrowth, and the soil is covered 
for -several inches with the needles of the pines. All is still and noiseless, and it seems as 
if the horse stepped on a carpet; but away up in the sky a noise is heard as of the surf of 
the ocean rolling on a distant shore. 

'Tis with regret we leave these earlier scenes and days of California life. De Laittre 
was ambitious, and here was the country in which he could accomplish something. His aims 
and desires were high. Though not quick in gaining friends, when once he had one he 
seldom lost him. He read constantly. His mother often sent books, and his brother 
sent by mail Commodore Perry's " Expedition to Japan," which through his efforts about 
that time had been induced to open her ports to the world. He read and re-read it and 
became wonderfully interested in that peculiar nation. Scarcely a week jjassed in all that 
time that he did not on Sunday write to his mother. They were happy days indeed. 
For nearly seven years he worked long and faithfully for the several different firms who 
bought and sold the lumber-manufacturing property, each time being part and parcel of it. 
Some of the owners sleep their last long sleep. One lies in Lone-Mountain Cemetery, at 
San Francisco ; another in the mountains ; and those who arc living are all friends ; and 
only last winter two of them, by agreement, met Mr. De Laittre in Florida, and they all took 
a trip over to Cuba. 



JOHN DE LAITTRE. 21$ 

In 1859, having accumulated several thousand dollars, De Laittre invested it in the 
Canal or Water Company ; and at the solicitation of the president he entered their employ, 
taking charge of part of the lines of construction, and later acting as water agent, having 
under his control seven miles of canal. He sold water to miners, collecting on his line 
about two thousand dollars weekly. This was at that time considered one of the best pieces 
of property in that part of the State. The stock was much sought after and paid its 
owners well. The dividends monthly on De Laittre's stock, together witli his salary of two 
hundred dollars per month, gave him a good income. 

About this time his mother's health seemed to be failing ; although her letters were 
hopeful and cheerful, yet her sentences indicated at times that she wanted to see her boy 
once more. He had always written her that whenever she said so he would come home. 
At last she wrote, " I feel I cannot live through another year. I want to see you so much, 
yet I know it will be a sacrifice for you to come, and I do not ask it." This was in April. 
He felt profoundly sad. He knew that if he was to see his dear mother again he must 
hasten to her side. The strong love he bore her quickly decided in his mind what to do, 
and he at once made instant preparation for his departure. He sailed from San Francisco 
May 16, i860. 

In the eight years since he had last seen it, San Francisco had changed from a city of 
sand and shanties and motley humanity to a noble modern metropolis. And in like manner 
the fortunes of young De Laittre had improved, and the poor, ambitious, unsophisticated 
lad who entered the Golden Gate as a steerage passenger now sailed outward a first-cabin 
passenger, a confident and self-reliant man, well trained in business, and with a good measure 
of success already achieved. It was e.xhiiarating once more to feel the ship bounding over 
old ocean, for he loved the sea. Having been so many years among the mountains, it seemed 
good again to sec liorizon and water meet. Soon Panama and Aspinwall were reached and not 
long after he sailed for New York, and, barring a heavy gale passing Cape Hatteras, had a 
pleasant voyage, and in due time arrived safely in New York. He found some gentlemen in 
business there who came from Ellsworth and knew his family well. He introduced himself 
to one of them, who had known him as a little boy. He opened his eyes with astonishment, 
and could hardly believe the story. De Laittre asked if they knew aught of his mother. 
Mr. Peters said he had a letter that very day, saying that she was doing well. How glad he 
was and thankful that surely he was privileged to see her once more. As he left the office 
and walked up the street to the hotel, his heart was full of gratitude and love. Strong as 
was his desire to stay a few days in the great city and see something of what he had read 
so much, yet his great love for his suffering mother, waiting so anxiously to sec him, would 
not admit of delay, and he started almost immediately for home. The meeting between the 
mother and her long-absent son, as she clasped him in her arms, was joyful indeed, and can 
only be understood by those who have gone through a similar c.vpericnce. Glad and thank- 
ful was he that after all his wanderings he had been permitted to return once more to home, 
family, and friends. But this joy was not to last. In a conversation with nis mother a few 
days after his return, she said that her prayers had been answered. Her boy had been 
safely restored to her, and she was permitted to once more see him, and now she was ready 
to go; and she said to him that in a few weeks they would bid each other a long farewell, 



2i6 XORTIIWEST niOGRAPIIV. 

but trusted they should meet in a fairer world. He knew tlicn that she would not be with 
them long. Once or twice they attended church together ; but she gradually failed, and on 
October i8, iS6o, sank quietly asleep, her life going out as serenely as she had lived. All 
of her family gathered around her bedside, sorrowing to part with one whom they all loved 
and who bore the name of one of the noblest of women in all the country around. Her 
image is engraven on her son's heart, and her precepts and example are as fresh in memory 
now as then. 

On leaving California, he had been entrusted by a friend with letters and commissions to 
a family in Conway, New Hampshire. This and subsequent visits there resulted in his becom- 
ing engaged to Clara T., the youngest daughter of \Vm. K. Eastman, Esq., one of the oldest 
and most respected citizens of that place. In November he bade his dear father, brothers, 
and sister good-by again and stayed a few days with his new-found friends in Conway. He 
left Conway December 20, with the understanding that he was to return to California, and 
within si.\ months close up his business and return to her who was now his promised wife. 
1 le sailed from New York December 26. In November the election of President Lincoln 
had taken place. There was much discontent, and already in the great metropolis could be 
heard the mutterings of the coming storm. He little dreamed as he passed out of New- 
York harbor, down the coast, and rounded Cape Hatteras, that in a few short weeks another 
steamer would follow with supplies and men destined to relieve one of the national forts 
beleaguered by traitors. In due time he arrived in San Francisco, and in two days he fell 
sick with a raging fever. But, thanks to kind friends and a most excellent physician, with 
whom he became acquainted on the passage out (Doctor De Witt, who held a United-States 
government position at the Sandwich Islands), a most horrible disease was warded off, for 
when he got better the doctor said that he had had the varioloid. 

In a short time he was back in the mountains again, among his old friends ; but he 
feared that it was not an easy matter to sell his property and leave California. He had a 
strange love for the country, and believed it was the best land in the world to live in, and 
he knew that his future wife would join him there in case he found it expedient to remain 
there several years longer. Each week, as spring advanced, brought later news of threatened 
hostilities in the East, and soon of the firing on Sumter and the killing of Ellsworth, and 
very soon all hope of peaceful solution was gone, and with it all hope of an early return. 
He tried to dispose of the property, and finally exchanged and purchased an interest in a 
well-established mercantile business, and decided to stay a few years longer. De Laittre was 
an ardent and strong Union man. California had been mostly Democratic, and her offices, 
from State down to town and county affairs, had been in that party's control, and mainly 
under the Hreckenridge or Southern wing. Hence many of the prominent men and party 
leaders were rank Secessionists. This caused much warm discussion, and soon all the 
Douglas Democrats and Republicans became outspoken Union men, while their opponents 
did not hesitate to proclaim themselves Secessionists, and thus in one sense California was 
much in the condition of the Border States. There were all through the mountains thou- 
sands of hardy and patriotic Union men, who were ready at a day's notice to enlist had 
there been a call for their services. There were other thousands just as determined who 
would have aided the Confederacy ; and for a time it was thought by many that Californi.i 



JOHN DE I.AITTRE. 217 

would secede and have fighting at her doors. But, thanks to the mighty efforts of T. Starr 
King, Col. K. D. Baker, and other strong public men on the coast, men who in eloquent 
tones and patriotic speeches led the way, and had such a strong following and aroused such 
a patriotic sentiment, the traitors hid theii- heads and only showed their joy when news 
came of reverses to the Union armies. 

The mining camp had a telegraph oflfice but no newspaper, and received no news in 
advance of the San Francisco daily papers, forty-eight hours old, unless it jvas paid for. 
Hundreds of times during those four eventful years De Laittre started out from his store 
and raised money in amounts from three to five dollars by collecting twenty-five cents each 
from Union men, to pay for telegrams giving the headlines of the extras and newspapers in 
San Francisco. Especially was this done on the eve of some important battle. 

Dr. Bellows, the president of the National Sanitary Commission, on his celebrated 
visit to the coast, aroused an immense amount of enthusiasm. He visited many mining towns, 
and held meetings, telling the people of the great good of the Sanitary Commission. He 
went to Murphy's and received a warm welcome, the miners listening to his pleadings and 
his touching descriptions of the needs of the sick and wounded soldiers. They at once 
organized a.branch and reported to the parent society at San Francisco. Mr. De Laittre 
had the honor of being its president, and for many months the mining camp was a liberal 
and regular contributor to that golden stream that flowed to New York from the Pacific 
coast. 

For a year previous to the close of the war, De Laittre had decided to close up his 
business as quickly as possible. His intended wife had promised to await his return. He 
was the more ready to do this as he thought he foresaw the decay of the mining towns that 
followed the close of the war, and all his energies were bent on this purpose. At last he 
succeeded, and in April, 1865, left the little mining camp in which he had lived thirteen 
years, knowing every man, woman, and child in the village and for miles around. It was 
with the deepest regret that he parted from many. Bitter were the tears he shed at parting 
from old friends and associates. About this time the treasurer of the county became a 
defaulter and fled to Europe, his native country. The commissioners of the county tendered 
De Laittre the office, and many of the leading men sent him word soliciting him to accept, 
saying they would see to it that he was nominated and elected for a succeeding term. This 
was a flattering offer, as it was one of the best offices in that great county, and, moreover, 
paid a good salary. For an instant he thought of what a splendid chance it was, and then 
put it aside, for he had promised her who was to he his wife that he would leave California, 
and her happiness as well as his own was of far more importance ; so he declinetl. In 
March, 1865, he received a telegram saying that a relative and dear friend, who had formerly 
been employed as clerk in his store and the year before had gone over to Carson Valley, on 
the eastern slope of the Sierras, and engaged for himself in the mercantile business, had 
been taken suddenly sick and was at death's door. He could not bear the thought of his 
dying off there alone, and determined to go to him. The way by stage was four hundred 
miles via Sacramento, thence across the Sierras to Virginia City, while directly across from 
the camp it was but a hundred miles. The mail was carried across in winter by a Norwegian 
named Thompson, on his skis, — a sort of snowshoe, — and as he was to start, De Laittre 



2i8 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

determined to accompany him. After a hard journey at first, but easier as he became 
accustomed to the slvis, they arrived safely, but too late. Mis cousin had died, and all he 
could do was to assist in burying his remains and marking his resting-place in the beautiful 
Carson Valley. Then came the thought that he must return across the mountains in winter, 
and alone, for the mail-carrier did not return until ne.vt week. Hut he was stout of heart, 
and as he had crossed the Sierras several times by the Carson- Valley route in the summer 
time, he had no misgivings. The first day brought him to Silver Mountain, a village nestled 
at the base of the main range. Here he was well acquainted, and got a good rest. This was 
below the snow line, and twelve or fifteen miles from the pass through which the wagon-road 
ran, and over which in summer much travel passed. In winter, of course, all travel was sus- 
pended. Long before daylight, with the stars brightly shining, his skis on his back, and lunch 
in his pocket, he starte:!. Up the mountain-side he toiled, and in less than an hour he passed 
the snow line. The snow was quite hard, so it was comparatively easy walking on it, but what 
alarmed him most was fear of snowslides. Soon it was daylight. He thought he must be 
half-way up the altitude he had to overcome from the stopping-place of the night previous. 
In a short time, as he toiled on, sudden gusts of wind assailed him, ami soon the mountain 
was enveloped in a storm that had gathered on the opposite slope. At first he hesitated 
and thought of turning back, but it seemed less danger to go ahead, for he felt sure if he 
could reach the summit he could put on the skis and quickly make the run to the ne.\t 
stopping-place — fifteen miles below. At noon he reached the summit. The altitude was 
so great and the work of climbing so hard that he was well-nigh exhausted. The wind 
howled at a fearful rate, and the air was thick with snow that cut the skin when exposed. 
Not a mountain peak was in sight and there was no landmark visible, but he did not dream 
that he was going wrong. Putting on the skis and tightening his belt, down the mountain 
side he started. Something all at once seemed to say, " Vou are lost," and yet he was 
impelled to go on. He knew that he was going in the right direction, and had passed the 
summit and was on the down grade to Hermit Valley. For some time he kept on amid 
the blinding storm, and then came the sudden realization that he was lost, and then 
that other thought, that if lie did not succeed in e.vtricating himself he would perish in 
the mountains. Clinging to a projecting cliff in its lee, he recalled having often read and 
heard people say that when one is lost he will invariably go in the opposite direction from 
the proper one. He shouldered the skis, and retraced his steps as nearly as possible, re- 
gaining the pass and toiling on, first on one side of the slope, then on the other, careful not 
to descend. Suddenly, and to his great joy, there appeared close at hand, through the driv- 
ing snow, the top of a wooden chimney projecting through the snow. He knew that this 
was a deserted cabin in the pass, used in summer, but vacant, of course, in winter, for no 
one could live there then. He thanked God that he was saved, and, dropping down the 
chimney, kindled a little fire, melting snow for water to drink. The cabin was buried over 
twelve feet in snow. He was then well enough acquainted with the lay of the land, so he 
had no farther trouble. Climbing out on the snow again, refreshed, down he started on the 
mountain-side on the skis, and by dark reached Hermit Valley. For four davs the storm 
raged, the worst one known for years ; and it is certain, had he gone on in tlie direction he 
actuallv thought the right one, he would have passed deeper into the mountains away on 



JOIIX DE LAITTRE. 219 

the lieadwaters of the Stanislaus, where he would have perished. No human being could 
have withstood the fury of that storm. 

The second night after leaving Ilciniit Valley, he reached Cottage Springs, an inn kept 
by some friends named Stevans. The snow at this place was ten feet deep on a level. 
This place is thirty miles from Murphy's, but at an altitude of about forty-five hundred feet 
above. The next day was the last on the trip. One of the curious phases of the California 
climate now appears. This was the last week in March, and the snow was at this place over 
ten feet in depth. Starting out as soon as it was light, he had fine running down the many 
mountain-sides on the skis, and soon arrived at tiic Big Trees, where he rested for dinner. 
Again starting at three o'clock p.m., he had got out of the snow, and, hanging the skis on a 
tree for the use of some other mountain traveller, he continued down on foot, and by sunset 
was in sight of home. There peach-trees were in bloom, and grain up four or five inches, 
and all was green and beautiful. All this change appeared in one day's travel on foot. 

He at once began preparations for departure, and soon had all his affairs settled. He 
felt sorrowful to leave the mountains of California and the many trusted friends to whom he 
had become strongly attached, after so many years' residence among them. But having 
come to a decision, nothing could now change it. He had set the time of sailing from San 
Francisco for May 16, and as he desired to visit some places of interest near the city he 
hastened the departure, leaving the dear old mining camp in which he had lived more 
than thirteen years, about the loth of April. 

His stay in San Francisco was extremely pleasant. He had many acquaintances there, — 
men with whom he had transacted business, — and all of them urged him not to leave 
California. One of the heaviest grocery houses on Front street offered him an interest in 
their business if he would stay and put in his small capital. But to all persuasions he turned 
a deaf ear. He visited the Santa Clara and San Jose valleys, the city of Sacramento, and 
many surrounding towns, gathering in a short time as much knowledge of the environs of 
San Francisco as possible. 

He was undecided in what manner to take his small capital East — whether to 
convert the gold into government currency, or to send it in gold drafts on New York, at a 
cost of about twenty-five dollars per thousand. Fortunately (as it afterwards proved) he 
called on the superintendent of the mint, with whom his firm in the mountains had for 
several years had extensive dealings in shipments of gold-dust for coinage, and asked his 
advice. They together visited the Sub-Treasury, and, after consultation, — by the advice of " 
these officials, — he bought all the greenbacks he could buy with his capital, reserving gold 
enough to purchase tickets and pay expenses home. Taking these to the sub-treasury, he 
subscribed for a 7-30 United States bond, to be delivered at some future time at the First 
National Bank of Bangor, Maine. This proved excellent advice. The bonds were drawing 
interest from the day he made the subscription, and were delivered in Bangor the following 
September, free of charge. The same bonds he carried to Minneapolis, and sold them there 
in December at a dollar and twelve cents. When he determined to purchase greenbacks he 
hesitated for a few days and watched the market. There was the most intense excitement 
on Montgomery Street. Greenbacks steadily depreciated. They were quoted at thirty-nine 
cents when he first came to the city, but had steadily declined. News was daily expected of 



220 NORTHWEST BIOGRAPHY. 

the collapse of the Rebellion, but the Secessionists were rampant iii the city, and their news- 
papers were sayini^ that Lee wouki annihilate Grant, and Johnson whip Sherman's army, 
and so up to the last minute they maintained a bold front. Down went government notes to 
thirty-six, thirt)-five, thirty-four, and still he waited, until, on the morning of the iith of 
May, they touched thirty-three and one-third cents, or three dollars in paper for one in gold. 
Then was the time for action, ami he at once invested all he had, and during the day 
completed the transaction and had a duplicate receipt of the government for 7-30 bonds to be 
delivered. This was all he had, — the savings of fifteen years' liard work, — yet notwith- 
standing hundreds and thousands of prominent men then said that the government's prom- 
ises were no good, and that tlie debt was then so large it would never be paid, lie ivuew 
better, and felt sure General Grant would win the day. 

Early the next morning he was awakened by a great tumult. Montgomery Street was 
one seething mass of humaiiit}-, men cheering and hugging each other, and acting like mad- 
men. News had come during the night of the surrender of Lee, anil during that day and niglu 
the city was given over to joy. By eleven o'clock government notes had advanced to forty 
cents, and the next day they rose to forty-seven cents. So it happened that De Laittre bought 
at the very lowest price they ever reached during the war, and they were not at that point 
over two hours. But the time was near at hand when he was to bid a long adieu to California. 
He loved her mountains, her valleys, her splendid climate, ami her noble-hearted, whole- 
souled people. Way 16, he sailed out of the Golden Gate, on one of the Pacific Wail Com- 
pany's noble steamers, and very soon was skirting down the coast, and the shores were fast 
fading from sight. 

The voyage to New York was a pleasant one, touching at Wazatlan and crossing the 
iothmus. They arrived safely in New York about the middle of June. Telegraphing to 
Miss Eastman, he met her a few days later in Boston — a joyous and happy meeting after a 
separation of nearly five long years. In tlue time they went to Conway, and arrangements 
were made for the marriage, which occurred at the Eastman mansion, July 18, 1865. 

Wrs. De Laittre had secured a good education, and possessed an evenly balanced mind, 
and had received careful training from her most excellent parents. Iler husband frankly 
says that much of his success in life is due to her many most excellent qualities. Fortunate, 
indeed, is the man who, after so many years, can bear such testimony to the worth of a true 
and noble-hearted woman. 

After visiting New York, Boston, and some other places of interest, he went down to Maine, 
to see once more his relatives. He began to ponder where he shoukl cast his lot, and very 
soon saw that from his long residence on the Pacific coast he would not be contented to stay 
in New England. He had many talks with his wife on the subject. Some of her brothers 
had several years before emigrated to the West, and settled at St. Anthony and Minneapolis, 
and she herself had spent one summer there on a visit. It seemed that the new State of 
Minnesota would be a good place to cast their lot, especially as their kinsmen were here and 
had urged this move. Leaving New Hampshire in September, they soon arrived in Minne- 
apolis. In those days there were no railroads in the Northwest, and, taking the steamer at 
La Crosse, they landed at St. Paul. The city of St. Anthony, on the east side, was then 
the larger place. The town of Minneapolis, on the west, had a few mills, and was just 



JOHN DE LAITTRE. 221 

starting into life and activity. Ue Laittrc connected himself with the woollen and flour 
manufacturing firm of Eastman, Gibson & Co., and remained a member until 1869, when he 
sold out. Their woollen mill has since become famous, blankets made there having taken 
the first prize at the Centennial Exhibition of 1876. Still, the business did not pay, it being 
extremely hard work to compete with Eastern-made goods ; and he never worked harder for 
any three years than he did while a member of this firm, to make it a success. But as the 
war had unsettled values, and they were constantly facing a falling market (wool had declined 
in the three years from a dollar to thirty cents a pound), the drift of trade was disastrous, 
especially to new manufacturing enterprises. 

Soon after leaving the flour and woollen busines.s, he engaged in the manufacture of 
lumber, and for more than twenty years remained in this industry. In earlier years the 
firm was known as Eastman, Bovc)' & Mills Co. Later it was incorporated as the Bovey-Dc 
Laittre Lumber, Company, Mr. De Laittre being president. The product is twenty-five 
million feet per annum, this being one of the principal industries of the city and State. 
The mills of this city alone manufacture upwards of three hundred million feet per annum. 

In April, 1877, Mr. Dc Laittre was nominated on the Republican city ticket, as a candidate 
for mayor. His opponent on the Democratic ticket was Dr. A. A. Ames, who was' a can- 
didate for re-election, and has since become quite famous in political life, having been mayor 
for several terms, and a prominent candidate for governor of the State on the Democratic 
ticket. The contest, after a heated campaign, resulted in De Laitlre's election, defeating 
Mayor Ames by nearly seven hundred majority. Serving the people to the best of his 
ability for one year, and giving almost his entire time to the duties of the office, his private 
business suffered somewhat by the neglect : and at the end of the term he declined to run 
again, although strongly solicited to do so. 

In the year 1879, ^ic was appointed by Gov. J. S. Pillsbury as State Prison Inspector of 
the penitentiary at Stillwater, and continued in this position for about seven years, having 
been re-appointed by both Governor Pillsbury and Governor Hubbaid. In 1S87, feeling he 
had served the State long enough, for little or no compensation, he resigned. As the affairs 
of the penitentiary had for several years fallen into disrepute, and become the subject of 
much controversy, the Board of Commissioners gave much of their time and anxious thought 
to their duties, and they had the satisfaction of feeling that their efforts had been crowned 
with success. 

Mr. De Laittre has for several years been one of the Trustees of the Farmers' and 
Mechanics' Savings Bank, the largest and most prosperous institution of the kind in the 
West. His advice is often asked as to investments, because his judgment is considered 
good in these matters. 

In the spring of 18S4, Mr. De Laittre accepted the position of president of the Nicollet 
National Bank, and continued as president of this institution until December, 18S8. At 
this time, as he intended to go abroad for a year or more, he declined a re-election. On 
Christmas Day of 1888, with his daughter Corinnc, he left home, and, joining a party of 
twelve Minneapolitans, started on a journey to Egypt and up the Nile to the First Cataract. 
They sailed from Cairo January 22, and made the three weeks' tour on one of Thomas Cook 
& Sons' steamers. Leaving Egypt about INIarch i, by Ismailia and the Suez Canal, they 



221 XORTJIllTST BIOGRAPIIV. 

took steamer at Tort Said for Palestine, visited Syria, and the cities of Damascus, Baalbcc, 
and Beyroiit, going thence to Constantinople, and returning to luirope by the way 
of Athens, and landing in Italy April i. Sojourning during the month of April in Rome, 
Naples, and Florence, they arrived in Paris May i, and witnessed the opening ceremonies 
of the great Exposition. Later in the season, having been joined in Paris by his wife and 
son, they spent the summer travelling in Europe, returning to this country and home 
October 15, 1889, after an absence of ten montlis, having enjoyed their stay abroad very 
much, and being intensely interested in wiiat they saw of the Old World. 



H28 75 



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